Searching for Italy package: North of Italy

Searching for Italy tour lets you visit the locations Stanley Tucci has been to, try the delicious Italian dishes he had, and experience cooking classes where you can learn to prepare delicious Italian dishes. This Searching for Italy tour combines food tastings, cooking classes and visits to the best spots of the main Italian cities – the same activities and experiences Tucci had!

Searching for Italy tour will also take you to Milan and the Como Lake. Milan is the city where the Italian happy hour was born, and you will taste many typical drinks here, Martini or Aperol being just two of the most famous ones. You will also taste the most typical Italian risotto, born right here in Milan: “risotto allo zafferano” (saffron risotto). You will also have the chance to visit the city of Milan, considered the most modern city in Italy.

In Bologna, homeland of the famous Bolognese sauce, you will be able to try it along with tagliatelle, Parmigiano Reggiano, balsamic vinegar, and mortadella (that Americans call “Bologna”, in honor of the city where it originated). This city is also famous for its culture, its beautiful porches, and the spectacular towers.

Florence: The Italian city of art, cradle of the Renaissance. Here you will have the chance to visit the highlights of the city center, and to discover the most famous Florentine market. The Searching for Italy tour will also allow you to taste the typical Bistecca alla Fiorentina (florentine steak), known all around the world for its great quality and unique taste. You will taste delicious red wine, served from the “buchette del vino”, which will pair perfectly with the Bistecca alla Fiorentina and other typical dishes like “ribollita“, “pappa al pomodoro”, and “panzanella“.

Rome: The Eternal City par excellence, and the destination where Tucci enjoyed many typical roman dishes including rigatoni alla carbonara, amatriciana pasta, the typical cacio e pepe and fried artichokes. This romeanditaly group tour also offers a beautiful sightseeing tour of the highlights of one of the most ancient cities in the world.

MILAN

Services included in the package:

At your arrival at Milan airport, an assistant will wait for you with the nominal sign.

Transfer private vehicle with a driver to the hotel.

Lunch is included at the Ratanà restaurant.

Menu: risotto allo zafferano (saffron risotto). Alongside Tucci, chef Cesare Battisti served veal cutlets and risotto allo zafferano, a creamy dish characterised by its brilliant yellow colour, given to it by the saffron.

Transfer to the cooking class via private vehicle with a driver. A chef will teach you how to make risotto allo zafferano yourself!

One-way transfer to the Navigli area via private vehicle with a driver. Free time on your own.

BITTO and COMO LAKE

Services included in the package:

Transfer by private vehicle and driver to Bitto center, tour and a cheese tasting. Tucci here met cheese maker Paolo Ciapparelli, who devoted his life to preserving the process employed at Bitto Storico Ribelle.

You will be able to spend some free time and have lunch, as well as spend an afternoon by the Como Lake.

Dinner at the restaurant Osteria del Treno, where Tucci and his wife Felicity Blunt dined. The actor said that it embodied “The history and spirit of Milan like almost nowhere else.”

A private vehicle will then take you back to the hotel.

BOLOGNA

Services included in the package:

Transfer by private vehicle with a driver to Milan railway station.

Train tickets from Milan to Bologna. At your arrival, an assistant will wait for you with the nominal sign.

Transfer by private vehicle with a driver to the Caseificio Rosola for a visit and tasting of Parmigiano Reggiano. This cheese here is made from the milk of a local breed of cow called, the Bianca Modenese. Chef Massimo Bottura showed Tucci a creamery in Zocca, a town about thirty miles outside of Bologna.

Transfer back to Bologna by private vehicle with a driver.

In the afternoon, transfer by private vehicle with a driver to the cooking class, where a chef will teach you how to prepare ragù alla bolognese.

Transfer back to the Hotel by private vehicle with a driver.

MODENA AND RIMINI

Services included in the package:

Transfer by private vehicle with a driver to the Gran Deposito Aceto Balsamico Giuseppe Giusti, visit and tasting of traditional balsamic vinegar. The Giusti family has been crafting this signature balsamic vinegar for over more than 400 years, using grapes from the vineyards near Modena.

Free time in Modena for lunch on your own (not included in the package)

Transfer by private vehicle with a driver to Rimini for dinner at Piazzetta Treatini. Here Stanley Tucci enjoyed freshly made cappelletti and strozzapreti at the Osteria Io e Simone restaurant.

Transfer back to Bologna by private vehicle with a driver.

FLORENCE

Services included in the package:

Transfer by private vehicle with a driver to Bologna railway station.

Train tickets from Bologna to Florence.

Transfer by private vehicle with a driver to to the hotel.

In the morning, private walking tour with a local guide. You will discover the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio, “the liveliest market in Florence”. It was here that Tucci tasted wine offered to him through the unique “buchette del vino”, small openings in the outer walls of bistros through which wine is served. These typical “buchette del vino” are not found anywhere outside of Tuscany!

Lunch at Osteria delle Donne restaurant is included, where Tucci tasted local foods such as dessert wine, Vin Santo, and almond biscuits.

Afternoon on your own.

Dinner at Osteria Cinghiale Bianco restaurant is included.

Menu: pappa al pomodoro, ribollita, and Panzanella.

FLORENCE AND LIVORNO

Services included in the package:

An assistant will take you from the hotel to the cooking class , where a chef will teach you how to make ribollita, pappa al pomodoro and panzanella.

In the afternoon you will visit the city of Livorno with local guide and private vehicle with a driver at disposal for the tour. The tour includes a tasting of a pancake made from chickpea flour at Torteria da Gagarin.

At the end of the tour transfer back to the hotel by private vehicle with a driver.

ROME

A private vehicle will take you from the hotel to the railway station, from where you will travel in second class to Rome. At the train station there an assistant with a sign will meet you and take you to the hotel.

In the morning you will be offered a private walking tour with a local guide . At the Bar San Calisto you will be able to taste the typical sweet maritozzi.

Stanley Tucci stopped at the restaurant Armando al Pantheon to enjoy a classic roman dish: rigatoni all’amatriciana. Here is where you will have lunch.

After spending some free time after lunch, you will have dinner at the Pommidoro, where you will be able to enjoy a traditional carbonara made with guanciale, eggs, black pepper, and fresh pecorino cheese.

You will then spend the night at the hotel in Rome.

ROME

Services included in the package:

In the morning, private walking tour with a local guide and visit the city’s old Jewish ghetto. The tour includes the tasting of fried artichoke (carciofo fritto) in the La Reginella restaurant.

Free time for lunch for your own.

In the afternoon, an assistant will then take you to your cooking class, where a chef will teach you how to recreate dishes such as amatriciana, carbonara al cacao, and pepe sauce.

Transfer by private vehicle with a driver to the Santo Palato restaurant, dinner included, where chef Sarah Cicolini offered Tucci several dishes.

Menu: frittata with chicken offal, roman tripe cooked in tomatoes, and wagyu heart tartare.

Transfer back to the hotel by private vehicle with a driver.