Bici/Cucina/Vino al Castello
bicycling,cooking and wine in a castle
Aside from a corkscrew, a fork and a pasta pot, who would have thought that the best tool for understanding Italian food and wine would have been a bicycle?
We took European bicycle tourism and turned it on its head.
Bicycle-based holidays tended to be bogged down with logistics- unpacking and repacking, on the bus/ off the bus, checking into the hotel/checking out, the week flying by in a blur of unknown beds and bideted bathrooms.
We did away with that right away, preferring to stay in a single location, in our case, a castle in the centre of an Italian village, the coast of the shiny blue Adriatic, hard to beat as one of Italy’s prettiest bike paths.
But those extra hours earned daily by sidestepping all the packing and unpacking- and faceless tourist restaurants- we spend in the kitchen learning about one of the world’s great cuisines. And the only one ever proven to keep you alive longer than what you’re currently eating.
But if the Mediterranean has a message it’s certainly ‘moderation’ and ‘balance’, just like this course itself, movement coupled with hands-on learning and eating and drinking.
Book now Or write us to learn more. Or to just say ‘ciao’. We’d be thrilled to hear from you!
Where: At the Castle, an hour South of Lecce.
When: Three dates throughout the shoulder months See Calendar.
Taught in: English
Where you sleep: At the Castle. 95 € single /110 € double a night.
How much? 1995 € Euro. With a supplement of 195 € for bicycle hire, guide and sag wag.
Best way to arrive, depart, maximise your time with us: Everything is spelled out in our Student Services. You’ll be given access about booking.
Bici /Cucina /Vino
Our Week-long Bicycle/Cooking/Wine Course at the Castle
Held throughout the year
*What to bring: two sets of bicycling clothing, sunscreen, your own helmet (or if you prefer, borrow one of ours) and non-cleated running or cross training shoes. The bicycle pedals are not clip-ins.
This course is for Sunday cyclists versus those that like to huff up mountains between blood transfusions. Those that want additional time on the saddle can go out early mornings for self-guided trips.
All the wine the night before rarely causes this to happen though.
This is an example of the bicycle course but your course might vary slightly, usually based on the weather (we may elect to go to the seaside on Wednesday rather than Thursday, etc.)
We handle all transportation from Lecce to the castle, from Porta Napoli Monday morning at 10 am, to Saturday morning, when we drop you with your luggage at the Lecce train station. You may elect to take any of the awaiting taxis in front of the train station, if you won’t be travelling by train (cab to Brindisi Airport, back into Lecce, etc.)
Before the course begins.
Arrive in Lecce Saturday or Sunday and stay wherever you like (our suggestions for our favourite places are in Student Services).
Lunedì
Monday
Meet us with your tagged luggage (first and surname) at Porta Napoli in Lecce at 10:00 (under the arch).
This is when the course officially begins and everything except your bicycle supplement (195 Euro in cash) is included in your tuition, from Monday morning to Saturday morning. You will not even need to carry a purse or wallet the entire week.
But before we head down to the castle, we’ll talk about the local yellow stone formed by nearly a billion years of sedimentary rock and how it affects everything here: the wine, food, climate, agriculture and architecture.
Together, we’ll head down to the castle, move you into your rooms and give you time to freshen up, plug in and join the WIFI (the castle has 6 WIFI systems that cover all the grounds, pool area, kitchen, dinning rooms and your room).
You’ll enjoy a walking tour of the castle and grounds and hear about its history and layout, making you feel instantly at home for the week. (With very few exceptions, the castle, the grounds and the pool are all ours for the week).
We’ll have an introductory talk. God Smiled on Us: An Introduction to Italy and Italian food. We’ll then go more granular and discuss the local cuisine, wine, history and culture. Then move over either onto the Baron’s outdoor stone loggia (weather-permitting) or the castle’s main hall, for a staff-prepared welcoming lunch (and the first of the week’s 13 different wines).
As with all our meals, you’ll have an antipasto, primo (handmade local pasta), secondo, 5 vegetable side dishes, dolce, wine and water, all local, all in season.
Each day of your bicycle course lunch will be prepared by the staff, whereas dinner will be prepared by you.
After lunch we’ll change into bicycle clothing and talk about the week’s bicycling. We’ll address safety, bicycling in groups and how to get the most out of our time on two wheels.
We’ll do a short ride the first day, just to get used to bicycling in Italy and to see whether we need to adjust saddle height, etc. And to introduce you to the Adriatic coast.
We’ll reconvene at 6pm to have a chalkboard talk about the wines and wine culture of the Salento. You’ll learn how to read an Italian wine label, how wine is made in The Old World and that differs from that of The New. That will segue into Monday night’s menù chalkboard talk before we head into the kitchen to make the fresh local pasta from scratch (easily Italy’s healthiest).
We’ll have a hands-on lesson (we explain only until the concept is clear and then you take over, each meal usually making 10-14 dishes, collectively) and then head up stairs to the loggia or main hall for a talk on Monday night’s wine, followed by a tasting that eases into dinner.
Students will take turns returning to the kitchen (with the staff) to both finish and then explain and present the final dishes at the table. The wine will flow and dinners- and fascinating, international discussion- will run long.
Feel free to visit our owner’s amaro bar after dinner.
Martedi
Tuesday
Breakfast in the main hall at 9 am. (Early riser? Go for self-guided early morning ride, visit Salvatore caffè in the main piazza (the castle is the centre of town).
Breakfast will include fresh local pastries, fresh fruit, eggs, toast, yoghurt, cheeses and meats. Tea, juice and locally-roasted espresso.
At 10 we’ll move to the chalkboard and discuss today’s bicycling route. You’ll learn about points of interest, almost always culinary (ex. aquaculture along the Adriatic, how olive trees are pruned, how grapes are grown here as free-standing trees, etc). And rather than in the classroom, you’ll learn in sitù. For our trips, we’ll favour bucolic country roads, sleepy, pretty little towns and the dazzling Mediterranean coastline.
We’ll return with time to shower before a wine tasting around the table.
Bring your worn bicycle clothes to the hampers at the top of the stairs as you come for lunch. You can collect your clothing right from the line each day after lunch, all your laundry washed and air-dried in the Mediterranean sun.
You’ll have a break to spend time in the pool (weather permitting), go for a walk, read, send pictures and videos to friends or just to nap off all the wine.
We’ll meet again at 6 pm for Pasta, Polenta, Rice and Old Bread: Italy’s first course, where you’ll learn who eats what in Italy and why. In fewer than 15 minutes, a lot about Italian food will be demystified forever. We’ll discuss our menu and then move down into the kitchen to make a different fresh pasta from scratch (every meal a different shape). We’ll have a lesson on gear, pots, pans, knives and how to maintain them all. Then use those new skills to work together to assemble dinner.
We’ll move upstairs for a wine tasting, both to learn about dinner’s particular wine but also how to learn how to taste more critically in general.
Dinner will start to arrive, with each course finished and then explained by your class mates. Expect it to go into well into the night.
A visit to Silvestro’s personal amaro bar for night caps.
Mercoledi
Wednesday
Breakfast in the main hall at 9 am. Breakfast will include fresh local pastries, fresh fruit, eggs, toast, yoghurt, cheeses and meats. Tea, juice and locally-roasted espresso.
At 10 we’ll move over to the chalkboard to discuss todays’ bicycle trip, especially the role oof aquaculture, fishing, the problems with bi-catches and the role of salt already present in the fish of the Mediterranean.
Once we return and have had showers, we’ll meet in the downstairs kitchen to have a lesson on fish cookery. You’ll learn to identify and cook hundreds of fish and shellfish using only 4 techniques. We’ll move upstairs and have a wine-tasting that will segue into a leisurely, staff-prepared lunch.
You’ll have a break to spend time in the pool (weather permitting), go for a walk, read, scroll your device or just to nap off all the wine.
We’ll meet again at 6 pm for 1493: Italy’s Nomadic Vegetables. We’ll discuss our menu and then move down into the kitchen to make a different fresh pasta from scratch (every meal a different shape). We’ll have a lesson on extra virgin olive oil, how to purchase, use and store it and then use those new skills to work together to assemble dinner.
We’ll move upstairs for a wine tasting, both to learn about dinner’s particular wine but also how to taste more critically in general.
Dinner will start to arrive, with each course finished and then explained by your class mates.
After dinner grappa and Italian cigars for those interested, down by the pool.
Giovedi
Thursday
Breakfast in the main hall at 9 am.
We’ll move over to the chalkboard to discuss today’s trip. And then you’ll learn about Italian coffee culture (how the beans are roasted in Italy, how to order in Italian and how and why Italian coffee culture has dominated the world).
Bicycling, we’ll stop at a beautiful seaside café where you can order your own coffee in Italian, re-enforcing your new understanding of espresso in Italy.
Once we return and have had showers, we’ll have a short wine tasting that will segue into a leisurely, staff-prepared lunch.
You’ll have a break to spend time in the pool (weather permitting), go for a walk, read, scroll your device or just to nap off all the wine.
We’ll meet again at 6 pm for Many Seas: A Brief History of The Mediterranean. And Italy’s place in it. We’ll discuss our menu and then move down into the kitchen to make a different fresh pasta from scratch (every meal a different shape). We’ll prepare dinner (10 to 14 dishes, collectively)
We’ll move upstairs for a wine tasting, both to learn about dinner’s particular wine but also how to taste more critically in general.
Dinner will start to arrive, with each course finished and then explained by your class mates.
A visit to Silvestro’s personal amaro bar for night caps.
Venerdi
Friday
Breakfast in the main hall at 9 am.
At 10 we’ll move over to the chalkboard to discuss today’s trip to Otranto. We’ll talk about Europe’s largest mosaic (and get a guided tour of it). You’ll learn how a Greek monk created a10th’s century of the Encyclopaedia Britannica- for the illiterate— hundreds of years before Dante’s poem aimed to do the same.
We’ll do the longest ride of the week, to Otranto, where we’ll leave our bikes with our guides to see the city’s cathedral and world-famous mosaic. Silvestro will give you a guided tour, so stay close.
We’ll have a great, informal lunch right on the Roman-era pier, with freshly-backed focacce and ice-cold beers.
We’ll head back to the castle and have time for showers and a short break.
We’ll meet again at 6 pm for Da Mieru al Vino: How Italian Wine Become Modern. And how is it that you can buy a litre of wine in Italy for 2 Euro, and the person who produces it, distributes it and serves it all make money on it. And why this is likely different in your home country. We’ll discuss tonight’s menu (a surprise) and then head into the kitchen to make it all from scratch.
We’ll move upstairs for a wine tasting, both to learn about dinner’s particular wine but also how to taste more critically in general.
Dinner will start to arrive, with each course finished and then explained by your class mates.
We have departing gifts for you and we’ll give them to you right after dinner.
A visit to Silvestro’s personal amaro bar for night caps.
Sabato
Saturday
departure
Breakfast one last time in the Baron’s main hall.
We’ll arrange transportation back to the Lecce train station, for either a departure headed north of Lecce, or to return for a few more days back in Lecce, one of Italy’s prettiest cities.
About a week after your course we’ll send you a password to all of our recipes and include all the email address of the others on your course. Many if not most make life-long friendships while here. They send us many happy pictures of wine-soaked reunions, held all over the world.
Imagine orchards, vegetable gardens, vineyards and millions of olive trees rise right up out of the Mediterranean: That’s Puglia. And there is no better way to experience it.
Puglia is Italy’s number one travel destination, domestically. Ask anyone in Italy where they would like to holiday and you’ll likely hear ‘la Puglia’.
What to do if this course is for you? Take a Sunday ride. Can you average about 12 kilometres an hour? Can you ride for three or four hours without an issue? We often have grandparents on this course, so shape is more important than age.
4 or 5, 4-hour trips in the weeks heading up to this course is often enough to keep you in the middle of the pack.
Q: How much bicycling is there? Do we need to be in great shape?
A: The biggest obstacle with answering this question is that we are all judging our own abilities: ‘I am rarely on a bicycle,not since my last Century’, ‘I go all the time, at least twice a year’. Sic.
We have been offering this class for 6 years and we have had very few problems, either with those that want to go too fast or those that want to go too slow. If you are older, should you schedule a doctor’s appointment? Not a bad idea. In general, if you can bicycle for 4 hours on mostly flat ground, you’ll do fine.
Q: Can I bring my bicycle from home?
A: We wouldn’t. First, it’s very complicated and expensive to ship a bicycle and we are not able to help in any way with the process.
If you do, you are 100% on your own.
Lastly, our course is for Sunday cyclists and if you need to bring your bike from home, you aren’t likely to want to do recreational bicycling with the rest of the group.
Q: Toe clips?
A: No. Bring running or crossfit shoes for riding.
Q: My own helmet?
A: You can, or borrow one of ours. Or bring a cheap one from home and leave it behind.
Q: Bicycle clothing? Bring two sets. We will wash and hang them for you each day but in case they don’t dry in time, have a back up.
Q; What are the additional costs for this course?
A: 195 Euro payable in cash the first evening. We rent very nice bicycles that everyone loves. They are robust and have never given us problems. We also hire a driver to follow us- the ‘sag wag’- and a bicyce guide to lead us (with our owner bringing up the back).
Q: Do we need Italian health insurance?
A: It’s worth booking your trip on a credit card that gives you extra insurance in case of accident, especially if you are not European. Most do this anyway before international travel.
Q: How can I get more time on the bike?
A: Bring your phone and go out early in the morning or during the break. The nearby Adriatic is nature’s perfect bike path. On your right heading north, on your left heading south.
Most ‘extra’ bicycling ends up foiled by day two because of our staff’s generous hand with the wine.