Vegetarian class with organic ancient grains

Founder and owner at Arianna & Friends'

And that's me, Arianna. When I was a student at the univeristy together with Massimo, we had a dream. We knew already we wanted somehow to spread our culture, but we didn't know in which ways yet. And we knew we needed to first get more educated ourselves, to go deeper in what for us belonged to our everyday life, before making it avaiable to the others. We made a lot of researches, made many contacts, and we finally found a good way to become ambassadors of the Tuscan culture, taditions and lifestyle. Yes, I admit it, the power that moved everything was my passion for food! For good food, and in particular for the good food of my mamma and my nonna, hehehh! It was learning from them that I started thinking that I couldn't miss the opportunity to share all I knew with others. It couldn't be different because here where we live, food IS culture! And so we made up a name for our project, our future business, that had to give this message: spend time with us, your Tuscan friends and you'll feel like in a family and you'll experience Tuscany in a very authentic way. So the name Arianna & Friends was picked as the best choice. Personally, I love planning, making people happy, organizing, having crazy ideas .. so crazy that sometimes Massimo needs to bring me down to earth! I like making sure that people are more than satisfied when they come back home. I'm lucky to have Massimo, Consuelo, Moira, Luca with me along with all the other "boys and girls" that help us providing excellent services, all of us, always with a big smile on our faces :)

Co-founder and owner at Arianna & Friends'

Ciao a tutti! It’s Massimo here. I’m the “first one” of the friends of Arianna in order of appearance, as we first met me when we were… ehm … at the high school! Well, the first “activities” we arranged together were those many teenagers do, like going to rock concerts (long live Metallica!), barbecuing, drinking inexpensive wine, mainly with no understanding of it. In over 25 years we became more serious adults; so serious that we finished university together and we then decided to start a business from scratch, back in 2007, in an area where nothing like this existed before. I am a natural born teacher, as I’ve always liked sharing knowledge on the beauties of the world with other people. When I started sharing the wisdom of the local cuisine with visitors to Tuscany or showing them the rooted traditions behind a wheel of local pecorino cheese, I realized how fantastic my job is. In fact I discovered that being a wine & food guide is a sophisticated way of being a good teacher, so I can’t help but love it! In the A&F team I’m the multi-language guide or assistant in all activities we offer, from cooking classes, to wine & food tours, from Italian language classes to vespa tours. In the low season I deal with the website development and content management. As I am very curious, I spend all my free time travelling all over the world and of course going on learning as much as I can: over the last few years I took part in several seminaries on extra virgin olive oil, I started a three-year course to become a sommelier, I experienced a professional training to become gelato maker and I decided to never give up in learning the Arabic language. Stay connected as we will soon come up with some new great ideas for your entertainment and enjoyment of our beautiful region! Ci vediamo in Toscana!

Tour leader and sales manager at Arianna & Friends'

Ciao Amici!! My name is Luca. I'm in my 40s and I'm for sure the craziest guide at Arianna & Friends As all my other colleagues, I am a multi task personality in the company. I take care of bookings, I am one the content managers of our websites and I'm a tour leader. When in season, I lead almost all types of tours and cooking classes at Arianna & Friends'. My favourite ones are the truffle, olive oil and vespa tours. Riding a vespa through our wonderful hills is a must to do while in Tuscany... of course only if you know how to ride a scooter! When I started working for Arianna & Friends, back in 2011, I was only able to prepare a very simple "pasta al pomodoro" (pasta with tomato sauce). Now, after more than 10 years of cooking classes and thanks to our wonderful cooks, I am a very good chef (but please, don't tell it to my wife!). My motto is "smile you are in Tuscany". I'm happy and very proud when I see people enjoying my country and having fun in Tuscany. Join us! Join me! Let's have fun togheter!!

Laura is a very friendly granny who loves Tuscan food just because it is what her granmother passed her! She lives in a fantastic cottage very close to Montecastello and she enjoys nature and music. She is ready to cook for chef services in any villa in Tuscany and she is able to adapt to any condition always with the aim of preparing the most delicious delicacies for her guests.

Ciao, I'm Silvia, one of the youngest cooks at Arianna & Friends'. Cooking is my real passion and I like to prepare any traditional dish both for visitors and for my family. I also love baking pizza as well as trying innovative food and special contemporary techniques, especially in my kitchen at home. When I started working for this company in 2018, I met an incredible team of collaborators and with them I finally feel joy and serenity in what I do. Any time I work as a cook I can breath freedom and this makes me happy. As I really love the sea, in my free time I like being at the beach. I have a passion for travelling and being in the company of my friends. I could define myself as a "free spirit" with a big attraction to ... hats !!! Looking forward to meet you all!

Ciao, I'm Ester, one of the cooks of Arianna & Friends'. I've been working with them since the beginning of their adventure in 2007. I love cooking together with people from all over the world, especailly with young kids. What I prefer to cook is pasta dishes, pizza and desserts, like for example the stunning cake I made to celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary. I live, like Davide (my nephew), in the little village of Lajatico, birthplace of Andrea Bocelli and from my home I can hear his voice and see something when Teatro del Silenzio takes place in July. I live in a farm and I have chickens, rabbits, a large vegetable garden. I make my own olive oil and wine together with my family. I hope to be able to cook with many of you in the years to come and teach you a lot of our typical Tuscan food.

Good morning everyone! I'm the cook Lorena. I started working with Arianna & Friends a few years ago when I retired, because someone set me up. You must know that Arianna is a good friend of my daughter Martina and they had this brilliant idea of asking me to cook for Arianna's tourists. Well, I coulnd't say no! Arianna tried my food for the first time when she was still at school with my daughter and she knows that I can cook very well!! ahahah The food I prepare is purely Tuscan: I don't use and butter or lard, but just EV olive oil, from Tuscany of course. People say my meat ragu is excellent, but also my Cacciucco - Livornese style fish soup - is simply fantastic. I make preserves and the best lasagne ever! I live in Pontedera, the town of the vespa. I'm in my early 70s and last year I got married for the second time! I like music from 40s 50s and 60s like Glenn Miller, King Cole, Frank Sinatra etc. etc. I cannot speak English, even if I tried to attend some English classes in these last few years... I ended up chatting about food with the other students! But no problem, when I'm with some guests in their holiday home preparing a meal, I always have my little dictionary with me that helps a lot in the conversation. I look forward meeting you all again soon!

Cooking class assistant at Arianna & Friends' and farm manager

Olá amigos! I am Rita, an enthusiastic collaborator of Arianna and Friends for 8 years now. I was born and raised in Porto (Portugal), but I have spent many years living in Tuscany. I got in love with Italy and especially with this region for several reasons. Many of them are the ones that make you visit it: healthy environment, good food and wine, magic sceneries...but let's be honest... I majorly got in love with a handsome Italian man! Together with my husband Aronne, pursuing our passion for nature and animals, I manage a small organic farm in the countryside of Montefoscoli, a little typical village 15 min far from Arianna and Friends' office, surprisingly full of history. At my farm I will be your guide if you book a group cooking class and we will spend a nice time together preparing traditional Tuscan food or baking some pizza in our historical wood oven. Our most important production is organic extravergine olive oil, which we use in every cooking class. You will also be enjoying some of our wine, vegetables and herbs. You can visit us not only for a cooking class, but also for an olive oil harvest and tasting, a picknick in our oakwood or just as a brief stop during your tour. Whenever you visiy ud Maria and Giona, our young children, will be welcoming you with joy! But most probably the first ones saying hello to you will be Pinto and Elsa, our very friendly dog. Together with them, you will also be surrounded by hens, chicks and roosters, a couple of donkeys, two cats and a few bee hives. You will go back in time and learn how it was back here almost 200 years ago. I am looking forward to have you here and tell you all about it. See you soon!