A must do while in Italy - We loved our cooking class with Barbara! She was very friendly and helpful. It also helped that she was super patient as we are beginners when it comes to Italian cuisine. I'm so glad we decided to add this to our busy itinerary.

Nice experience with underwhelming food and wine choices for the $$ - Having done several professional cooking classes in different countries, we re not new to this experience. This hosts for these dinners should do the same to better understand the expectations of their clientele. First the dinner we selected, as the title implies, was supposedly in Montepulciano where we were staying, and we were looking forward to walking to a local house for dinner. The dinner instead was 15 minutes by car in a neighboring town (montepulciano stassi I think) so that was not what we expected. Our host Barbara was very nice and we experienced a real cooking experience in her home which was tastefully decorated. However the menu consisted only of a soup appetizer and simple pasta entree and no second course - not a typical or complete Italian meal based on our experience. And the dishes were all very simple - pasta and tomato sauce and a soup which also had bread in it - no protein - and a basic wine. Given that the cost was in excess of $300 for a couple, this menu choice and wine - Rosso, the most basic tier of red wine - felt cheap to be honest. Given the cost and other experiences we had (in admittedly more expensive cities like London and Paris) the food and wine choices left us feeling little disappointed. Do this with the understanding that it is not a good value and a less sophisticated cooking experience than elsewhere.