La Cucina di Viviana is an entry into an intimate Tuscan society and a four-day course in Florentine cuisine limited to only four guests at a time.
Learn secrets of Tuscan kitchens, discover Florence, the hill towns and superb wineries, with an insider by your side, but most of all, bask in the unique experience as an honored guest in a private villa.
Imagine you have a favorite friend who lives in an enchanted 14th-century villa in Tuscany, just three miles outside of Florence, with views of horses, vineyards and olive groves. Imagine, too that she is a Cordon Bleu chef, an avid horsewoman, a professional pilot, speaks five languages, has fascinating friends who dine nightly at her table, and knows Italy intimately. Now stretch your imagination one more time — and you find that this warm and simpatico friend will invite you to her house to share her love of kitchen, countryside and countrymen, all the while catering to your whims and to your palate. Think being invited into this inner circle too much to hope for? It’s not — if you are introduced to Viviana.
Barbara, Viviana’s cooking partner and a vital part of the mix at La Cucina di Viviana, is Florentine to the bone. Although she, too, has a Cordon Bleu degree, her cooking inspiration comes from generations of Florentine family recipes. Simply put: it’s in her genes. Barbara’s ability in the kitchen is uncanny, as is her talent in teaching these age-old arts. She makes it fun and easy — as everything seems here at the villa.
At the La Cucina di Viviana the freshest ingredients that grow under the Tuscan sun are used in your newly-mastered recipes — most of them are right there in Viviana’s garden — but you will also learn to shop the markets of Florence, visit a local Chianti vineyard — known only to the cognoscenti — to sample its wine and its extra virgin olive oil. Then it’s home to the villa’s gourmet kitchen and hearth to sip wine (just selected at the winery) and to laugh and cook with Viviana and Barbara.
While preparing for the evening’s dinner party, Viviana may have invited friends — sometimes prominent, sometimes not—she hopes will intrigue you. A top executive from Ferrari was seated next to a guest who confessed a love for fast cars, and an America’s cup sailor was invited to her table to meet a guest whose passion was sailing. There, around the long table on the terrace, everyone sits down together to enjoy the delicious dinner they helped select and helped cook.Bottles of Chianti are passed, and as the sun sets over the land that gave birth to the renaissance, singing, laughter, and story telling fill the soft Tuscan evening.
Although the Tuscan sun gets all the press, it is not only the warm seasons that should be considered at La Cucina di Viviana. Winter is Viviana’s favorite time in Tuscany — when the tourists are gone and “the true life of the village and the city can be felt —when the best service in restaurants is received,” and when the villa’s “fireplaces are constantly lit, and the perfume and flavor of the cooking is more pronounced.” At this time of year, too, “hunters roasts and stews are savored,” and the taste of all that is good and beautiful is offered in Tuscany.
The quotes are Viviana’s, but the experience can be yours if you explore the time in Tuscany that has, up until now, belonged only to the Tuscans. Accommodations Guests of La Cucina di Viviana will occupy the two guest bedrooms in the main villa. Each bedroom is spacious, has its own private bathroom, and can be booked with a queen or two single beds.
Think being invited into this inner circle too much to hope for? It's not if you are introduced to Viviana.
