Cooking or culinary holidays, vacations, tours in Italy:

Cookery courses in rural Rome
. . . learn to cook delicious seasonal Italian dishes

We welcome a steady stream of visitors to our holiday houses in historic Capena, close to Rome. Most are content to soak up local colour, visit Rome and its surroundings, laze in the nearby pools and eat in the fabulous restaurants, but some would like to do a little more. Corsi Capena is designed for them.

The courses are ideal for a group of 4 to 8 people. You can choose between the option of accommodation and course only - or a full package if you want everything organised for you from the moment you arrive at the airport. Individuals are also welcome subject to availability.

Our first initiatives are cookery courses for amateur or semi-professional chefs, including wine and food tasting with the wonderful Anatra Grassa restaurant. We also offer a course in Italian language and culture run by a qualified Italian teacher. We will shortly be adding painting courses and pottery courses to our programme, courtesy of Capena's thriving artistic community.

Activities on non-course days include day trips to the River Tiber nature reserve, Rome, Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa, the fabulous Fonteverde Spa in nearby Tuscany, Orvieto and its gothic Duomo, the Designer Outlet village and more.

Rome	Capena

We also welcome partners and friends who wish to share the accommodation and other activities but do not want to attend the courses.

Our style of low-impact 'real' travel allows visitors to gain an insight into the cultural, historical, culinary and artistic heritage of a genuine Italian community.

All-inclusive one-week cookery courses in Capena, near Rome

Learn how to cook delicious seasonal Italian dishes under the guidance of Giovanni of the Anatra Grassa restaurant, a rising star who trained at the renowned Etoile cookery school in London and at Alain Ducasse's restaurant in London's Sanderson Hotel. Book the cooking course and accommodation only, or enjoy a full programme of activities including trips and wine tasting with Michela, a trained sommelier.

If you book as a group of 6 to 8, you will benefit from a 15% discount and can tailor your own package (if you opt for the full week's package). Smaller groups and individuals welcome, subject to availability. Accommodation in beautifully restored 15th-century Renaissance apartments in the old quarter of the village.

About the Anatra Grassa

The Anatra Grassa restaurant (literally translated as the Fat Duck) is a hidden gem off the beaten track. It is fast becoming a huge success due to the skill and hard work of its owners. Giovanni and Michela produce food that is outstanding even by the already high local standards. They are passionate about using the best locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients.

Choose from four options for groups of 4 to 8 people

1. Accommodation and course only (amateur chefs): €475 per person
2. Accommodation and course only (semi-professional chefs): €625 per person
1. Full week package for amateur chefs: €1350 per person
2. Full week package for semi-professional chefs: €1500 per person

Courses normally run Saturday to Saturday. Contact Corsi Capena for available start dates.

TYPICAL WEEK

What's included in the price?

Option 1

Accommodation and course only (amateur level): €475 per person

• Three 5-hour cookery lessons (amateur level) including all ingredients and your lunch (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday)
• Accommodation for one week

Option 2

Accommodation and course only (semi-professional level): €625 per person

• Three 5-hour cookery lessons (semi-professional level) including all ingredients and your lunch (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday)
• Two wine and food tasting sessions (evening)
• Accommodation for one week

Option 3

Full package (amateur): €1350 per person

• Transfer from/to airport or station
• Services of a locally-based English-speaking guide for the week
• Three 5-hour cookery lessons (amateur level) including all ingredients and your lunch (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday)
• Wine and food tasting on one evening
• Accommodation for one week
• Italian breakfasts for one week
• Welcome drinks and canapés
• Dinners including wine for one week, including farewell dinner at Anatra Grassa on Friday evening with presentation of course certificate
• Sunday trip to River Tiber nature reserve, including lunch at organic restaurant and river trip
• Trip to Tivoli / Villa D'Este and Hadrian's Villa on Tuesday
• Trip to Rome on Friday

Option 4

Full package (semi-professional): €1500 per person

• Transfer from/to airport or station
• Services of a locally-based English-speaking guide for the week
• Three 5-hour cookery lessons (amateur level) including all ingredients and your lunch (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday)
• Wine and food tasting on two evenings
• Accommodation for one week
• Italian breakfasts for one week
• Welcome drinks and canapés
• Dinners including wine for one week, including farewell dinner at Anatra Grassa on Friday evening with presentation of course certificate
• Sunday trip to River Tiber nature reserve, including lunch at organic restaurant and river trip
• Trip to Tivoli /Villa D'Este and Hadrian's Villa on Tuesday
• Trip to Rome on Friday

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, AVAILABILITY AND PRICES EMAIL info@corsicapena.com

TAILOR YOUR OWN WEEK

Ask us to arrange a week to suit your own interests.

For example, we can add wine tasting sessions and other extras if you have only booked the basic accommodation and course option. If you have booked one of the full week packages, you can choose alternative trips . Or perhaps you would like to cook while your partner learns Italian or simply relaxes.

Alternative Trips for Non-Cooking Days

Trips can usually be substituted at no extra charge except where stated.

• Day at the Fonte Verde thermal spa – www.fonteverdespa.com (entrance to the outdoor spa pool included in package price but treatments extra)
• Trip to Rome
• Lucus Feroniae Etruscan archeological site
• Designer outlet village
• Orvieto (with its magnificent gothic cathedral) – www.orvietoonline.com

Food-Oriented Trips

• Join Giovanni at his early morning trip to the fish market
• Visit olive oil producers
• Visit wine producers
• Visit local festivals in surrounding villages celebrating truffles, chestnuts, fungi and more (depends on availability)

Prices for Extras – if you have chosen the accommodation and course only option

• airport transfer: €70 per trip (taxi takes up to 6 people)
• food and wine tasting evening: €30 per person
• breakfasts for the week: €50 per person

Capena contains several restaurants, shops and bars and is well-connected by transport links to Rome and the airports. See www.casacapena.com for more information.

Prices for Non-Cooking Guests

1. Guests accompanying partners on accommodation/course only basis: €350
2. Guests accompanying partners on full package, participating in all activities except cookery course: €1200

Note: we need at least 4 guests to attend the cookery course

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, AVAILABILITY AND PRICES EMAIL info@corsicapena.com

Cookery courses are run by the owners of the Anatra Grassa, possibly Capena’s finest restaurant . . .

Here is a recent review of the restaurant taken from the menudiroma.com website:

Giovanni and Michela

"Yesterday we went to Capena with a couple of friends on the advice of another friend, who is something of an expert on good food. It takes no time to get there: you take the Via Tiberina and follow the signs for Capena. Once we arrived in the centre, we parked and found the restaurant easily.

The Anatra Grassa takes its name from its famous English counterpart, the Fat Duck of Bray (although there is no connection between the two). The chef comes from the Veneto and is young (he began his career at sixteen). He has worked with the famous French chef Alain Ducasse and also spent eoght years in London and other parts of Italy.

He took over the restaurant a few months ago and it has certainly not been easy to establish himself off the beaten track where not everyone appreciates the art of fine cuisine.

The menu offers a range of good meat and fish dishes at very fair prices.

I tried an excellent veal fillet with porcini and glazed potatoes with truffled mushrooms. My companions asked the chef to choose their antipasto. The result was polenta with wild boar and three really impressive seafood selections. The presentation was outstanding. We then went on to a selection of cheeses with a wild mixed salad, tagliolini pasta with white truffles and chicken with porcini. We had a short discussion over the way the tagliolini were prepared (we expected them to be dressed as usual with butter and truffles, but the chef had added a creative touch of his own that was a little out of the ordinary).

To complement the flavour of the white truffle, the chef offered us three fried eggs with Parmesan shavings that were out of this world. We topped everything off with three specially made Crème Catalane desserts that were sheer perfection.

I can’t remember the wines. I think the first was a sweetish Castiglion del Bosco Dainero wine, followed by another red wine, Barbera I think, which was quite rightly decanted.

The restaurant is delightful and the girl who served us was very professional (I later found that she is the chef’s wife). We spent €150 for four people and it was worth every cent.

Apart from the big names, outside Rome it is very difficult to find a restaurant of this type, which takes such care over its presentation and its menu."

Accommodation is included in the all-inclusive prices offered by Corsi Capena. You will be housed in our two extremely comfortable, recently restored apartments in Capena's charming historical centre. Casa Galilei sleeps 6 to 8 and is part of a Renaissance monastery. Casa Marconi sleeps 2 to 4 and is located near the old village centre. Both properties are 5 minutes walk from the Anatra Grassa restaurant.

For more information on the accommodation go to www.casacapena.com

Casa Galilei

Large lounge	Kitchen
Double bedroom	Twin bedded bedroom

Casa Marconi

Front entrance	Kitchen and living room

Double bedroom . . .	. . . with bathroom