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

Meeting at Milan airport and transfer to the hotel.

Lunch at restaurant Ratanà: risotto allo zafferano (saffron risotto). Alongside Tucci, chef Cesare Battisti served veal cutlets and risotto allo zafferano, a creamy dish characterized by its brilliant yellow color, given to it by the saffron.

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

Visit of the Navigli and aperitif.

After some free time to spend however you like, you will be able to spend the night at the hotel in Milan.

BITTO and COMO LAKE

Visit to Bitto center in the morning, where you will be able to have a 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

A private vehicle will escort you to the railway station. From there you will travel in second class to the city of Bologna. At your arrival, an assistant will be waiting for you with a sign to then take you to the hotel.

In the morning you will visit the Caseificio Rosola, where you will be able to participate in a tasting of Parmigiano Reggiano. This cheese here is made from the milk of a local breed of cow, the Bianca Modenese. Here chef Massimo Bottura showed Tucci a creamery in Zocca, a town about thirty miles outside of Bologna. At the end of the tour, you will be driven back to the hotel for lunch and some free time.

An assistant will be waiting for you at the hotel to take you to the cooking class, where a chef will teach you how to prepare ragù alla bolognese.

You will be able to spend the remainder of the day however you want, and then spend the night in the hotel in Bologna.

MODENA and RIMINI

For this part of the tour, a private driver will be at your disposal for the whole day. In the morning you will visit the Gran Deposito Aceto Balsamico Giuseppe Giusti, where you will be given a tour and a tasting of traditional balsamic vinegar. The Giusti family has crafted this signature balsamic vinegar for more than 400 years, using grapes from the vineyards near Modena.

After lunch and some free time, a driver will take you to the city of Rimini, where you will have dinner at Piazzetta Treatini. Here Stanley Tucci enjoyed freshly made cappelletti and strozzapreti at the restaurant Osteria Io e Simone.

You will then spend the night at the hotel in Bologna

TUSCANY: FLORENCE

A private vehicle will take you to the railway station where you will travel in second class to reach the city of Florence. There, a driver will meet you and take you to the station to the hotel.

In the morning, a private guide will meet you at the hotel and give you a walking tour. You will be able to discover the Mercato di Sant’Ambrogio, “the liveliest market in Florence”. Here 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. The typical buchette del vino are not found anywhere outside of Tuscany!

You will have lunch at Osteria delle Donne, where Tucci tasted local foods such as dessert wine, Vin Santo, and almond biscotti. You will have some free time in the afternoon to spend however you like.

The Osteria Cinghiale Bianco is, according to the actor, “where old bread would choose to come and die”. For your dinner here you will be able to enjoy dishes like pappa al pomodoro, ribollita, and Panzanella.

You will then be able to enjoy some free time and then spend the night in the hotel in Florence.

TUSCANY: FLORENCE and LIVORNO

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

In the afternoon you will visit the city of Livorno. Here, in Torteria da Gagarin, Tucci was able to taste a pancake made from chickpea flour.

After a private vehicle has taken you back to the hotel you will be able to enjoy some free time and spend the night at the hotel in Florence.

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 walking tour. 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

In the morning you will be offered a walking tour and visit the city’s old Jewish ghetto. You will also be able to taste fried artichoke (carciofo fritto) in the restaurant La Reginella.

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.

In the afternoon you will be able to enjoy some free time.

You will have dinner at the Santo Palato restaurant, where chef Sarah Cicolini offered Tucci several dishes, including a frittata with chicken offal, roman tripe cooked in tomatoes, and wagyu heart tartare.

You will be spending the night at the hotel in Rome.