The Dolce Vita Experience — Local services in Florence

A Must Do Cooking Experience in Florence

The Dolce Vita Experience is what it is because of Ileana (the Owner). She embodies everything you want in someone teaching you to make pasta and learn new recipes.

The tour of the oldest market in Florence was fantastic. She has learned the language and speaks with the vendors to know: what is in season and good, what they recommend using based on what she is cooking and where they are sourcing their products if not from their farm. She explained all of this to us and the different types of produce and meats. She told us why she uses certain vendors. And shared which stands also have stands where they prepare food such as La Botteghina di Luca Menoni (amazing hamburgers). She asks what sounds good to you and determines what to make based on what is in season and what you like.

After the tour you walk a short distance to her apartment where she walks you through what you are cooking and has you help prepare it. This means chopping, cutting, and preparing the ingredients which later are used to fill pasta or make sauces. You then move to learning to make pasta. We chose tagliatelle and ravioli. She made the process very easy to follow and explained why each step was important. Although we are no experts our pasta turned out and tasted fantastic.

I must not forget that we started by making Tiramisu so that it would be ready after our meal (it was delicious). And while we were preparing and cooking she had aperitivos and charcuterie for us.

We then enjoyed a lovely, cooked by us meal with her at her dining table. A wonderful conversation was had while we enjoyed our meal and wine.

We would be amiss if we didn't mentioned that we are impressed by her story and her adventurous spirit to start a new life and career in a foreign country (we understand what that takes having done it ourselves). But even more so by her tenacity to do and learn what is needed to make her business successful. We love her ability to bring a recipe to life by using seasonal ingredients and her knowledge. She completely changed the flavor profile of a dish by adding lemon zest. It was a fantastic experience and we...

We had to rearrange our itinerary at the last minute due to weather, and we’re so glad we did because we were able to take Ileana’s cooking class. Booking tours online is nerve wracking because you don’t always know what you’ll get. But in this case, the description is 100% legit. You really do go to a local market and get a detailed explaination of what all of the vendors carry, how it changes over the seasons, what the types of cheeses, meat cuts, and Fruits and vegetables, etc. Frankly, this tour was worth it for the market tour alone! But the cooking! Yes, you really do head back to her apartment which is in the neighborhood, a short walk away. Ileana is a natural instructor, and helped us with things like knife technique, tips for maintaining our pasta roller, and methods for kneading the pasta dough to get the right consistency. From the music to the chill vibe, we had a great time, and kept thinking how great it was we could just walk over. If you’re looking for some actual cooking opportunity—even if you are already a decent chef, odds are you’ll learn something from the class. And you will definitely get an insiders guide to shopping at this Florence market, as we as your own after you...

This was definitely one of my highlights during my trip to Florence. I seriously can’t recommend the experience enough. Ileana was so wonderful at teaching us how to prepare and cook the food. Everything was fresh from the market that day. I love that she really takes her time to educate you about the food and process. We made some fresh pasta and chatted over wine. You can tell she really loves what she does. Her place is adorable and so cozy. It was so nice to just hang and talk about the culture of Italy. She sent us options for dinner beforehand and honestly everything she offered sounded amazing. Unbelievable amount of food so much that I couldn’t even finish all of it. We even ended up bringing home dessert. Ileana just has this amazing personality where she makes you feel so at home. The next day she sent us a list of restaurants and bars to visit while we there and every place she recommended was wonderful. She even emailed me the recipes and I can’t wait to make everything again. Highly suggest visiting, you will not be...