Just a few minutes drive from Bellagio’s city center and Lake Como, sits an elegant restaurant and is home to the award-winning imaginative chef. While young, this chef worked in the illustrious Villa D’Este for seven years and has already won 40 gold medals in international culinary competitions. Still, the chef is humble and energetic as he talks about using local ingredients and teaches his hands-on pasta cooking class in his family-owned restaurant.
Your culinary adventure begins at 10:00 a.m. when you are picked up from your hotel lobby in Bellagio, post office, or ferry gate and you hear tales from the kitchen on the ride over to the family’s restaurant. Once at the restaurant, relax for a moment with a cup of coffee or cappuccino with your chef and then you put on an apron and explore the herb garden behind the restaurant. The hands-on cooking lesson begins at 10:30 a.m. and focuses on creating homemade pasta fresca, packed with fresh daily ingredients, as well as risotto, tagliatelle, gnocchi and a dessert which changes daily.
After the class, enjoy lunch on the terrace (weather permitting). Chef Luigi will also send you off with a home made bottle of olive oil, an apron, a diploma of participation, as well as a recipe book (in English) focused on dishes typical to the region. Your class ends at around 2:30 p.m. when you return to Bellagio town or your Bellagio hotel in a van with all of your culinary souvenirs.