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ITALY - Toscana Saporita Cooking School

Sandra Lotti—the owner, director and head chef of Toscana Saporita Cooking School, believes there’s a cook inside everyone, and all you need to do to discover it is to dig in with both hands. Located in the heart of Tuscany on a 15th-century hilltop estate, Lotti’s school focuses on traditional Tuscan cooking techniques. Willing students can master homemade pasta, ravioli, gnocchi, pizza, focaccia, risotto, bruschetta, vegetable and grain soups, grilled, roasted and fried vegetables, fish and meat, pastries and gelato.

“It’s 100 percent hands-on,” says Stephanie DeMarco, Toscano Saporita’s marketing manager and a former student. Small morning cooking classes are followed by lunch. Lotti and her culinary team always infuse their knowledge with a touch of fun, DeMarco adds, so expect a night of dueling pizza-making or a classmate sporting an octopus moustache.

Besides cooking: Every afternoon, students pile into one of the school’s minibuses to tour nearby cities such as Viareggio, with its open markets, or Torre del Lago, the hometown of celebrated opera composer Giacomo Puccini.

Cost: $2,700 per person, based on double occupancy; includes accommodations, lessons, all meals paired with wines, daily sightseeing tours, taxes, tips and airport or train transfers to and from Pisa airport or Viareggio train station; toscanasaporita.com