A Week Long Course About Italian Language, Cooking And Wine In Lecce
A week dedicated to finally perfecting your Italian, plus cooking and drinking some of the best food and wine in Italy.
Interested?
Italian Language, Cooking And Wine Course in Lecce
Italiano Uno /Cucina/Vino
Italiano Due /Cucina /Vino
In these classes you’ll:
- Finally learn the world’s prettiest language
- Spend the mornings in the markets learning utilitarian Italian, and in the classroom building your individual linguistic framework. You’ll learn the new concept and then apply it straight way, helping it stick forever
- Enjoy a staff-prepared lunch, where you’ll eat and drink with locals, practicing what you just learned
- Pass the afternoons and evenings in the kitchen, making fresh pasta from scratch, cooking everything that you’ll eat for dinner
- Enjoy these chalkboard talks over wine: Who eats what where in Italy? The history of Italian wine. Italy’s contribution to world coffee culture. The materials of kitchen gear. 1493: Southern vegetables. Olive oil fraud and what to do about it
- Revel in 10 healthy, wine-soaked feasts. Reconfirm your faith in humanity with time spent emotionally and intellectually connecting with people from all over the world, united through a love of Italian food and wine
- Master 6 shapes of fresh pasta production, using only a butterknife, a rolling pin and the (clean) spoke from an old umbrella
- Critically taste (and then drink freely) 17 different local wines, all sourced with 25 kilometers of the school, from grapes that have been in Southern Puglia for at least 200 years
- Grasp extra virgin olive oil: Production, history, ascertain quality and learn to critically taste. This is often the biggest surprise of the course, how different the artisanal reality is from supermarket expectations
- Gain market skills, tricks and tips, from how to select fish, fruit and vegetables, legumes, wine and flours
- Build Italian daily lifestyle habits, living for a week in one of Italy’s prettiest cities. By walking the same streets with a slower pace, you’ll get to know locals, the vendors, patrons in coffee and wine bars. You’ll also pick up enough Italian to play a part in the local community
- Prepare 25 local Mediterranean side-dishes, each dripping with high-quality extra virgin olive oil
- Learn about the history of amari (Italy’s after dinner drinks). Guided tasting of what must be Southern Italy’s largest private amaro bar
- Gain access to all the recipes, tips and tricks and all of our password protected content, not just for the class but all of our classes. In that email we also include all the other students’ emails so that you can keep in touch and meet up all around the world (when you do send an email with pictures). We’ll also include the password to our playlists (everyone asks for them)
Logistics at a Glance: Italian Language, Cooking And Wine Course in Lecce
Italiano Uno
Italiano Due
When: From Monday morning to late Friday night, held several times throughout the year. See our calendar
Where: In the historic centre of Lecce, in Puglia. In our owner’s private home
Daily schedule: from 10:00 to 15:00 and then from 18:00 until 23:00 or later
Taught in: Italian and English
Who is the food and wine teacher? Our owner has been teaching the food, wine and olive oil of the Puglia to students from 59 countries for the last 22 years. He is a sommelier of wine (AIS) and a sommelier of extra virgin olive oil (FIS) and has been a professional wine writer for magazines since 2010. He also lectures on behalf of the region of Puglia and annually teaches university classes here in Italy
Who is the language teacher: Francesca Leo is a double Ph.D and native speaker. She has been teaching Italian language and culture to adult international students for 25 years
Wine: At least 16 different wines, all sourced from historically-present (at last 200 years), autochthonous grapes, grown, produced and bottled within 25 kilometers from the school. All poured (generously) and explained by an Italian-trained sommelier
Cost: 1995 Euro in 2024. Starting in 2025, 2295 Euro
Twice-daily meeting point: Under the column in Piazza Sant Oronzo (Lecce’s main piazza—see map below). We meet under the column each time (never at the school) to facilitate many local market visits
Walking: About 4,000 daily steps. And about two hours standing in the kitchen
Diet restrictions: We’re happy to serve you gluten-free pasta but we won’t be able to make it. If you can’t touch regular flour and/or pasta, this is not the class for you
FAQ about our Italian Language, Cooking And Wine Course in Lecce
Italiano Uno
Italiano Due
Q: What is the structure of the day? How much classroom, how much kitchen?
A: You’ll spend the mornings in the classroom and then apply it right away in the markets and caffès. Lessons are fun yet profound, designed to stack up many early victories to build momentum. You’ll eat a staff prepared lunch with locals as lunch guests (again to reinforce what you just learned while it’s still fresh). And then spend afternoons and evenings in the kitchen and around the table, studying our local food and wine, as we normally do
Q: Who teaches the language element of this class?
A: Dottoressa Francesca Leo is a professional language teacher, who specializes in teaching Italian- in Italian- to students from all over the world. A lot of the lesson revolves around her ‘husband’, George Clooney: how he orders his coffee, his favourite vegetable, whether he likes the weather today, etc. This playful technique is remarkably successful, moving students away from their memorized Italian script, of their names, ages, countries and jobs
Q: What is the placement quiz and how do I take it?
A: Upon registering for Italiano due, you’ll be set the quiz. Take it and then send it back. In ten minutes we’ll be able to know which level would be better for you. It’s in everyone’s best interest to study alongside those of the same level. We default to language level and not to the date of the course nor the level of your spouse. We won’t accept payment for Italiano due until we’re certain that that is the proper level for you. Anyone can take Italiano uno and there is no test to enter it.
Q: Where do I sleep in Lecce?
A: Anywhere you like but we have suggestions
Q: What is the difference in content and intensity in Italiano uno and Italiano due?
A: Italiano uno is designed to give you the tools to construct your language abilities, moving from frozen reluctance to information gathering (fluency comes when you can ask specific questions to fill in the missing pieces in your understanding). Italiano due begins with fluency and polishes your language towards native speakers focusing on what you have to say, rather than on how you say it.
To Logistics at a Glance for Italiano/Cucina/Vino Courses
