Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

[david s]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

Yes. We spent 5 nights at a winery Terre Di Mellazano about 1Km up the hill behind Greve in Chianti. A great little town, the accom was excellent and reasonable. We shared a two B'room fully equpped apart. With another couple. We drank lots of their red around $5 EU a bottle. If you prefer you can slip into town and take your own container and buy it for $1EU /litre.Greve is about a 40 min trip to Florence, but don't take a car, parking is horrendous.The local produce is outstanding.

[david s]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

Dug out a few pics of Greve.They have a very nice triangular piazza with an amazing famous butchery specialising in cured meats.

[heliman]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

I arranged my own "Grande Tour" of Italy last year and spent a lot of time going to the vaious pizza placesto see what they were up to. The travels took us to Venice, Lucca, Florence, Rome and of course Naples. We spent some time watching the activities at Da Michele and a number of other pizza restaurants, however if you think you will be learning their secrets if you pay for a lesson or two, you will probably be disappointed.

Not sure what exactly the intention is of the culinary tour that you are proposing, but you will likely be viewed as foreign visitors - to be charged a premium price price for an average dining experience. This is well known in Italy and generally seems to be the norm throughout the country.

I personally don't like being herded around in groups to various places such as restaurants and prefer to quietly arrive, observe, enjoy the surroundings and leave with knowledge and memories.

[david s]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

I agree wholeheartedly with you Rossco. We preferred to arrange everything ourselves, agents also take their fat commissions and many Europeans are renowned for being rip off artists. We found rural stays much better in this regard- people more honest and friendly, food quality better too. The only organized tours we did were an unguided bicycle tour in Southern France, which was terrific, but expensive for what you got. The other organized tours we did were of Galleries where you can jump the long queues and get some great guidance ( particularly the Vatican in Rome and the Ufizzi in Florence)

[lwood]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

Thanks for the tips guys, that's why I'm starting the planning early. The canned tours can be very expensive (2,000 euro/person for a 4 or 5 day experience). Will probably stay at places like Terre Di Mellazano and explore on our own. Thanks for the tips and any other places anybody can share are greatly appreciated.

[BradPQ]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

Keep talking. How great would it be to go with a group of pizza freaks and foodies in general?!

[david s]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

There is a place in Vico Equense, on the Amalfi coast that they call "the university of Pizza" they have three large wood fired ovens and you buy your pizza by the metre.ie. I'll have 60 cm of whatever. They prepare their pizzas on long wooden peels with the bases in long oval shapes. Vico is less expensive that many of the other more touristy places nearby like Sorrento and Positano.

[lwood]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

Keep the ideas coming.

[TropicalCoasting]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

Make sure you do go to Naples hold onto your belonging, dress like a pauper and enjoy the best pizzas in the world in a great city.
I loved it,lined up for a Margherita at what was supposedly the place where it all started.They give you a ticket and you wait in the street with a crowd waiting to be called in.
You share a table with a random Neapolitan family and have a choice of Margherita or Marinara a beer a coke or water.
It was fantastic

[ebbro]

Re: Pizza Quest culinary tour in Italy

I've spent a lot of time in Italy, mostly in Liguria around La Spezia. It's a beautiful area - the Italian Riveira. Great seafood (all food really). It's much more relaxing than the big cities or tourist areas. They usually serve pizza accompanied with farinata - a pancake made of chick pea flour. Try it. Panigacci is also a local favorite - wood oven cooked flat bread served with stracchino cheese, salami, prosciuto cotto and crudo, and sopressata. Wonderful meal and something (along with farinata) I will make if I ever build my WFO.

There's great hiking in the area - the most famous being around Le Cinque Terre, but that's also touristy. Do the hikes between the five towns, but don't stay in the towns. Other great villages in the area are Lerici or Portovenere.

Other than Le Cinque Terre and Portofino (not worth the visit IMO) this is an area often overlooked by foreign tourists.