Salsa Week in Lecce: Annual Tomato Sauce Week Course
This is our classic Lecce course only that one morning we head out to the country side and ban together as a class to make the annual tomato sauce. It’s a timeless process, not really that altered in the last 200 years. Here is your chance to move from passive consumer to active contributor.
Cooking Course Important Details:
When: From Monday morning [Sept 8, 2025] to late Friday night [Sep 12, 2025]. Check Cooking Class Calendar for dates.
Course Fees: 2295 Euro per person (View Cooking Class Calendar)
Click on “Logistic at a Glance” section below for complete details.
The Annual Tomato Sauce Salsa Week Course
In this class you’ll:
- Set aside one morning to learn to make the annual tomato from scratch (about 6 hours from start to finish), with ice cold beer to keep up the moral. This will likely be the highpoint of this trip to Italy. We use the last three bottles from the year before to dress the pasta for lunch that we eat in the countryside
- Master 8 shapes of fresh pasta production, using only a butterknife, a rolling pin and the 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
- 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
- Begin to understand Italy, Italian food and Italian wine as an expression of the territory, history, geography and climate
- 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 50 local Mediterranean side-dishes, each dripping with high-quality extra virgin olive oil
- 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
- Learn about the history of amari (Italy’s after dinner drinks). Guided tasting of 3 and then be given an empty 4th glass to visit 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)
NB:- While you’ll be eating, drinking and working with local ingredients, this course is designed- once home- to give you skills to apply them to your local produce. You’ll naturally widen your gaze to the great ingredients already available in your community, rather than focusing on importing them from other parts of the world.
Logistics at a Glance: The Week We Make the Salsa in Lecce
When: From Monday morning [Sept 8, 2025] to late Friday night [Sep 12, 2025]. 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
Transportation: We handle the transportation to the countryside to make the annual salsa and have lunch before returning
Taught in: English
Who is the 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
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 Salsa Tomato Sauce Week Course
Q: A week of tomato sauce? Isn’t that overkill?
A: The salsa week in Lecce is actually our classic course in Lecce in all ways except one: One morning we dedicate ourselves to learning the timeless method of canning the annual tomato sauce in the nearby countryside. Giant pots. Crates of tomatoes. Huge bundles of basil. And then we have lunch there before heading back to Lecce
Q: What prerequisite skills do I need?
A: Zero. This is regional cooking. We all start at zero when learning a new cuisine but our school emphasis the ‘why’, as most of the time in Italy the ‘how’, is surprising straight forward. While you’ll certainly pick up some skills, tips and tricks that will make you more competent in cooking any and all cuisines when home, our classes are far more anthropological/sociological, but held in the kitchen and dinning room
Q:With two coast lines is the food of the Salento mostly fish?
A: Fish has always been expensive, both in perishability but also in the historic loss of life. While there is plenty of seafood today- especially on the coasts- the majority of food of the Salento is decidedly terrestrial. And it’s largely vegetarian, with pulses (legumes), foraged greens, sun-ripened fruits and vegetable playing the staring roles
Q: Can you offer this course without gluten?
A: If you are able to touch flour but not eat it, we can offer gluten-free pasta to eat. We do not teach the production of gluten-free pasta. If you are concerned with breathing or touching flour, this is not the course for you
Q: How much walking? How much standing?
A: Plan on walking at least 4,000 steps and standing for at least 2 hours. If this sounds like it might be an issue let us know when booking and we can make some adjustments to meet your needs
Q: I don’t drink a lot. Is that a problem?
A: No. We only pour the first glass and then the bottles are on the table. If you want less, simply don’t refill your glass or glasses. For those that don’t drink at all, you can just simply turn over your goblets and we’ll remove them without comment
Q: Where do I sleep for the week?
A: We have suggestions. Once you book we’ll give you access to Student Services which has all the arrival/departure/accommodation information. We give this out only after booking to make sure we actually have space for you before you book anything further.
Q: Can my non-participating spouse attend meals and outings?
A: Of course. They can pay half-price and we’ll give them a set of keys that they can come and go as they please. While they are welcome to come with us on field trips, they aren’t counted as students in the kitchen.
