Cinque Terre Cooking Lesson in La Spezia

A fabulous day with the Osteria Della Corte team - the market visit - choosing our beautiful produce to be cooked up; cooking with Silvie and her amazing team and cooking up a feast of 3 courses to eat; and then finally getting to eat all of it! With a lovely bottle of Ligurian white wine and a taste of the delicious desert too. Thank you for a lovely town and a fantastic introduction to your local specialities - absolutely delicious - cannot wait to go home and try the recipes that you shared in our own kitchen.

My sister in law and I had the best time ever. We learned how to prepare, cook and enjoyed a fine Italian dinner. We loved the chef, loved shopping for the ingredients and had so much fun. It is a must if you have an opportunity. We did anchovies, mussels, potato gnocchi, fish with vegetables and fruit desert. Served with fresh bread and delicious wine.

My daughter and I had a blast shopping and cooking with Daria! I will be sure to use some of the cooking techniques that we learned that day. I consider myself a pretty good cook but I prepped and cooked things that I've never done before! We were supposed to get recipes for the dishes that we cooked but we got distracted at the end and didn't get them. Maybe she can send them to us?

This was some of the best food that we ate while we were in Italy. Silvia's restaurant is state of the art, clean, and the food is fresh and delicious. We loved going to the market with Silvia to select the food we were going to cook. Each dish was perfectly thought out and rich in flavor. The cooking instructions were well described, challenging enough to be interesting, but not difficult. Worth every penny.

We recently took a Best of the Western Mediterranean cruise with Celebrity Cruises. Our first stop was in La Spezia and there were many choices for excursions including Florence, Pisa and several different Cinque Terre options. We have been to Florence and none of the Pisa or Cinque Terre options really interested us in the time we had to spend in port, but we ran across this activity and given our love for Italian food and cooking, felt that we would give it a try. What a great experience! We could not have been more pleased. We were met at the train station by the chefs husband who took us and one other couple to the open air market to shop for ingredients for our meal. Afterward, we went to a charming local restaurant and were greeted by the chef and her team and immediately went to work preparing our lunch. There were four of us and we each felt that we had the full attention of the staff even though we were there right before their busy lunch time. We prepared stuffed mussels, seafood risotto and sea bass. The chef and staff were very welcoming and patient with our questions and gave many opportunities for photos while we were prepping and cooking. We all felt that we were given an authentic experience. After our food was prepared, we were seated in the restaurant and served our food with a wonderful local wine. We never felt rushed at all and afterward we were given a printout of the menu and each person also received a can of risotto to take home. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip and we would highly recommend this to anyone who desires an intimate, small group authentic Italian cooking experience in a charming, working restaurant.

Andre and Silvia hosted the cooking class. Andre took the market tour where we bought our supplies. We returned to their restaurant, and led by Silvia the chef we cooked three seafood courses from scratch in her commercial kitchen. It was fun, interesting and we learned a lot. The restaurant is very modern and stylish. We then were given a table and served the food we had each prepared. This was followed by the house desert plate which was sensational. Wine, water and coffee were also provided for the table. We took a day out from walking the trails of Cinque Terre and were so glad we did. It was by far the best cooking class I have done. The hosts were open and warm and made us feel very welcome. The food was delicious! Highly recommend to people who love seafood. This is not your usual pasta/pizza cooking class. Thank you so much Andre, Silvia and team. Shelley and Pete

Chef Silvia and her husband have an absolutely gorgeous restaurant, with a spectacular kitchen and staff. We absolutely loved our visit to the market - so much beautiful and fresh produce and seafood! In the kitchen we learned to prepare three separate courses - and learned a lot. Silvia is a true professional and you can tell her team is proud of their work. Once we were seated for lunch to enjoy the fruits of our labors, the restaurant completely filled with the lunch crowd. We loved watching the kitchen team in high gear - and Silvia still had time to make a special gnocchi course as a surprise. This restaurant's attention to detail is unparalleled. We had an absolutely marvelous time!!!

The trip to the open market was both educational and fun. Alessandro is very kind and allow me to participate and selection of the ingredients and menu. Sonya, the chef and his wife, was just wonderful too! I learned some great techniques with seafood and risotto. Enjoyed every minute of my lesson, and eating the results I MADE! The other staff at the restaurant were so lovely and kind also. I thoroughly enjoyed this private lesson with them, and would recommend!

What fun! It was the 1st time I ate mussels and enjoyed them. The trip to the market was interesting and educational. Cooking and eating what we cooked, was divine.

It was fabulous. We loved the Chef and owner of the restaurant - she was a great teacher and her choice of recipes were perfect to bring home and replicate - although we will never in the states have such great mussels. I can't say enough good things. We were met at the train station as planned, taken to the market to buy some of the food for the meal and after preparing our dishes were served what we had made with wine.....an experience for anyone who enjoys cooking. Bravo!!!!