Name: 4 Day Medieval Villages, Olive Tours and Italian Culinary Vacation in Lazio
Brand: Convivio Rome
Price: 947 EUR
Availability: InStock

Accommodation

Check-out Time:

11:00

To make your Italian cooking holiday a truly unique and relaxing experience, Covivio Rome has selected restored historic homes in the medieval hilltop village of Toffia. You will be staying in one of the historic homes or apartments within or nearby these medieval walls. Toffia lies in the Sabina region, between Rome and Umbria. These homes are self-contained, clean and very comfortable. They have an interesting history and have been meticulously restored and tastefully furnished by their owners. These cookery holidays and vacations are also a fantastic way to experience authentic rural life in central Italy, staying in complete comfort and living "like the locals do" in a medieval hilltop village.

Convivio Rome bed and breakfast: a real family home

This 500-year old family home has spectacular views over the rolling hills and valleys of Sabina, covered by olive groves and vineyards. The unspoiled views from the top floor stretch for an amazing 50 miles all the way to the mountains. The colorful sunsets over the valley will take your breath away. This family home has been lovingly renovated by the owners and made into two double and one single bedrooms with designer bathroom, fully equipped kitchen and comfortable lounge area.

Convivio Rome bed and breakfast is located in the heart of the historic medieval village, next to a sunny garden and is conveniently placed near one the central piazzas. There are panoramic views over olive groves and you can enjoy spectacular sunsets while sipping on a glass of wine. Convivio Rome Bed and Breakfast is perfect accommodation for four to six people. Wi-Fi is available from this home.

La Casetta - Toffia

Recently renovated to a high standard, this sunny 15th century home is situated on Toffia's medieval defensive wall, has stunning views and a beautiful private balcony. Selected for your Italian cooking courses, it has a fully equipped kitchen and a Tuscan stone floor throughout. It has just been tastefully renovated using natural colors. In the evening, you can enjoy spectacular sunsets while sitting on the balcony, having a glass of local wine. La Casetta is ideal for one or two people that are attending the Italian cookery classes.

Program

Day 1 - Arrival

Your host will meet you at local train station and drive you through the beautiful Sabine Hills to your home in the medieval hilltop village of Toffia, where you will stay for the duration of your Convivio Rome Italian cooking holiday.
Welcome dinner at 20:00. This is a relaxed and informal dinner, held in a family taverna or restaurant, during which you can discover the unique flavors of traditional food from Sabina, as well as sample some of the best local wines. During dinner, Sally or Guido will give you a brief outline of your holiday.

Day 2 - Cooking class, excursion

Start with an Italian-style breakfast taken on the café patio while enjoying majestic views over the Sabine Hills.
In the morning, start lesson number one, followed by lunch. The enthusiastic pasta expert starts her cooking lesson with making fresh pasta out of eggs and flour. Pasta sauces and the importance of fresh ingredients, herbs, and balance are discussed. More secrets are revealed to create a mouth-watering three-course lunch.
In the afternoon, enjoy a guided tour of an olive grove with Guido, where you will learn all about the ancient art of olive oil making, followed by olive oil sampling with bruschetta while overlooking majestic views of Sabina.
In the evening, you will have dinner at a local home restaurant, inside a 500-year old wine cellar or on a terrace overlooking the Sabine Hills, depending on the season.

Day 3 - Cooking class and afternoon excursion

Start with an Italian-style breakfast taken in the main piazza while enjoying majestic views over the Sabine Hills.
In the morning, you will have cooking lesson number two, followed by lunch. Italian cooking tips and secrets are revealed as Guido guides you through your second cooking lesson using seasonal ingredients, for primo, secondo, and dolce (your three-course meal).
In the afternoon, you will have a guided tour of the ancient monastic village of Farfa (including art and craft shops) or explore medieval Toffia.
In the evening, dinner will be a local home restaurant, inside a 500-year old wine cellar or on a terrace overlooking the Sabine Hills, depending on the season.

Day 4, Departure

Depart after breakfast with hopes you will return soon.

Included excursions

Convivio Rome Italian Cookery Holidays in the heart of Italy also include two-afternoon excursions, including a guided tour of an ancient monastic village dating back to the 6th century and a guided walk through an olive grove where you will learn more about the ancient art of making olive oil. Regional wines and extra virgin olive oils will also be sampled during our Italian cooking classes and holidays. Your free time will give you a chance to sit at the cafe/bar and watch the locals, take a stroll, take photographs, draw or paint or just enjoy what the Sabina region, between Rome and Umbria, has to offer.

Location

Toffia

Toffia is an ancient medieval village where your accommodation is located. Participants of the Italian cooking holidays (or Italian cookery vacations) become part of a vibrant Italian rural community, while they enjoy cooking, eating, sampling wine, and relaxing. One of the most unspoiled and better kept medieval hilltop villages in Italy, Toffia is conveniently situated between Rome and Umbria and is full of ancient restored palazzos, churches, and small piazzas from which it is possible to admire sweeping views of olive groves and vineyards in the surrounding valleys. Like other villages in the region, Toffia’s beauty has not been yet discovered by mass tourism and retains all its authenticity.

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Food

The Italian cooking holidays and cooking classes near Rome have been designed to share Convivio Rome's love for Italian cuisine, particularly Roman and Tuscan cuisine, in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. Set in Sabina, one of the most unspoiled areas of Italy, north of Rome, and not far from Umbria and Tuscany, these cookery courses are easy to follow, creative, and fun. During the cooking classes based in a family home, near a medieval hilltop village, you can participate in the preparation of wonderfully authentic Italian food or simply sit back, relax, and sip on a glass of wine while food is prepared in front of you.

Things to do (optional)

Castelnuovo

Another unspoiled medieval hilltop village you can visit during your Convivio Rome Italian cooking holiday, Castelnuovo was an important city in medieval times. Due to its very high position on a hilltop, it has majestic views over the Sabine Hills and was built to protect other medieval villages close by, including Farfa. It has handsome renaissance palazzi, ancient alleyways, beautifully restored homes, and historical bakery preserved for viewing. As usual in Sabina, there are no huge car parks or souvenir shops here! Moreover, Castelnuovo is famous for its Sabina extra virgin olive oil production.

Sabina, the perfect setting for a cooking holiday

Between Rome, Umbria, and Tuscany, Sabina is central Italy's best-kept secret. More rural and densely green than Tuscany and Umbria, it is also a lot less tourist-plundered. It has olive groves, vineyards, and medieval hilltop stone villages; but more than anything, Sabina has true ingredients in its fields and woods which have earned it the label paradiso gastronomic’. This is why Sabina is the ideal location for the Italian cooking holidays.

In spring and summer, the land is patch worked in delicious and coniferous Botticelli greens. Hills are laced with narrow white tracks and roads that loop like spaghetti, reaching villages and hamlets that cluster on the hilltops. Wheat fields are strewn with poppies, and slopes are neatly planted with groves of olive trees. Wild greens are collected in a countryside ritual, with the tenderest shoots eaten as salad. In winter and early spring fruit trees are bursting with the sweetest oranges, apples and pears of all different shapes and sizes. June is the month for cherries, beautifully dark red and very sweet. In summer and until autumn, you’ll see peaches, apricots and fresh figs everywhere.

However, olive oil remains the key economic food resource due to quality single-estate oils that are so low in acidity they are extra smooth and rich. Every village grocer has its own cured meats and salami counter. Boxwood crates of locally harvested produce, from baby purple artichokes to the speckled pink pods of borlotti beans, are displayed in tiers. Sabina is truly a magical land of panoramic views across its valleys, olive groves and vineyards, fields of sunflowers and wild Mediterranean herbs, medieval hilltop villages, castles, and majestic Roman ruins set in wild nature.

Swimming pool

An excellent swimming pool is available nearby Toffia and Farfa in the summer months. This pool is unique, as it only uses the purest local spring water. If you wish, Convivio Rome are more than happy to organize a taxi for you to go to the pool and return you to Toffia, during your free time.

The Monastery of Farfa

Nearby Toffia is Farfa Abbey, one of the most important monasteries in European history, more influential and powerful than Cluny in France. Founded in the VII century, Farfa became imperial monastery under Charlemagne. Vast territories of central Italy belonged to Farfa, including the cities of Siena, Perugia, Assisi and many others. Still today this monastic complex looks majestic, with a basilica, a tower-library containing thousands of rare manuscripts, artist’ workshops and buildings all dating back to the middle ages. Farfa was also featured in the third episode of Jamie Oliver’s TV show "Jamie’s great escape".

The village of Farfa in Sabina has an interesting number of shops, all relevant to our gourmet and cookery holidays and vacations. This includes the monastery’s herbalist shop, the oleoteca where local extra virgin olive oils are sold and an award winning hand-made fabric shop. The delicatessen sells cheeses and wines from Sabina. Farfa is one of the hidden treasures that can be visited during your Italian cookery holidays.

What's included

2 cooking lessons of 2 to 3 hours
2 lunches (after cooking lessons)
3 breakfasts at the local cafe
3 dinners (welcome dinner included)
3 nights accommodation
Convivio Rome high-quality apron
Free pick up/return service from/to local Fara Sabina train station (just 40 minutes from Rome)
Guided tour of olive grove with olive oil tasting
Guided tour of the ancient Farfa monastic village
Recipes from the cooking lessons
Welcome gift
Wine during lunch and dinner

What's not included

Car hire, private driver or taxi service
Flights
Travel insurance

How to get there

Recommended Airports

CIA

Ciampino–G. B. Pastine International Airport

47 km

Transfer not provided

FCO

Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport

62 km

Transfer not provided

Arrival by public or private transport from Rome Ciampino Airport

Easy-to-follow directions will be given to get you from this airport, via public transport, to our local train station, Fara Sabina, where the organizer will meet you and return you to free of charge. Or, please inquire about a pick-up and return service with a private driver.

Arrival by train from Rome Fiumicino / Leonardo da Vinci Airport

From inside the terminal you can take a direct train (departures every 15 minutes) to Fara Sabina station, where we will meet you and return you to, free of charge. This train can also be taken from Rome.

Arrival by train from Rome

There is an excellent urban train service which departs from many areas of Rome every 15 minutes. It only takes about 40 minutes to get here. Convivio Rome will give you easy-to-follow directions to come to our local train station, you will find them there waiting for you holding a sign.

Cancellation Policy

A reservation requires a deposit of 12.29% of the total price.
The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
The rest of the payment should be paid 30 days before arrival.

Menu

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