Searching for Italy package

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 brings you to Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Naples is the city where pizza was born and where Stanley Tucci tasted the most famous one. The Amalfi Coast is also the land of limoncello and amazing coastal panoramas.

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.

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.

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.

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“.

Finally, romeanditaly group brings you to see Palermo and Catania, two cities in the biggest Italian island: Sicily. The best place to spend summer (and winter!). Along with its amazing art treasures and panoramas, Sicily is also renowned for its food specialties: “cannoli”, “arancini”, granita, fresh fish… and much more!

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 overnight at the hotel in Milan.

BITTO and COMO LAKE

Visit to Bitto center in the morning, where you will 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 have 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 would 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 have 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 from the station to the hotel.

In the morning, a private guide will meet you at the hotel and you will start a walking tour. You will 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 enjoy dishes like pappa al pomodoro, ribollita, and Panzanella.

You will have some free time and then spend the night in the hotel in Florence.

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TUSCANY: FLORENCE and LIVORNO

An assistant will take you from the hotel to the cooking class, 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 tasted a pancake made from chickpea flour.

After the tour you will have a private transfer  to the hotel and  you will have 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 in Rome 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 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 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 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 have 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.

NAPLES and  AMALFI COAST

In the morning you will have a private transfer  to the railway station where you will take a train to Naples, traveling in second class. At the station there you will find an assistant with a sign waiting for you and you will be taken to your hotel in Naples.

In the morning you will have a walking tour with a private guide. Stanley Tucci enjoyed fried pizzas and fagottini filled with pork and ricotta at the fast-food restaurant Pizza Fritta da Fernanda.

Then, during a cooking class, a chef will teach you how to cook pizza, and you will taste it afterwards.

After some free time in the afternoon and dinner, you will spend the night at the hotel in Naples.

AMALFI COAST

Our driver will be at your disposal for picking you up and then returning you to the hotel. A private guide will show you the best spots in the Amalfi Coast.

You will have lunch at the Lo Scoglio restaurant where you will taste one of Tucci’s favorite dishes: spaghetti alla nerano. You will also be offered a tasting of limoncello and a typical dessert. At the pastry shop Pasticceria Sal De Riso you will have a chance to enjoy what is called a lemon delight cake (delizia al limone), a typical dessert of this area.

You will have some free time in Naples for dinner and then spend the night at the hotel.

SICILY: PALERMO

A private vehicle will take you to the airport from where you will fly (in economy class) to the city of Palermo.

A private vehicle will take you from the airport to the hotel.

A private vehicle will take you from the hotel to the cooking class.

During a cooking class a chef will teach you how to recreate two staples of Sicilian cuisine: cannoli and arancini.

You will have some free time in the afternoon.

In the restaurant of Pupi, in the city of Bagheria, chef Tony Lo Coco showed Tucci his interpretation of the traditional Sicilian dish spaghetti alla Bottarga. You will have the pleasure of dining in this Michelin star restaurant.

You will spend the night in the hotel in Palermo.

SICILY: CATANIA

A private vehicle will take you to your hotel in the city of Catania.

In the afternoon, a driver will take you to a wine tasting experience in the area near the Etna volcano.

You will have dinner at the restaurant Me Cumpari Turiddu, where chef Roberta Capizzi offered Tucci pasta alla norma, a pasta dish with fried eggplant, ricotta cheese and basil.

After some free time, you will spend the night at the hotel in Catania.