Pastry making class at Rita’s farm
Cooking ClassesDuration:From 2 to 3 hours
Rates
OUR PASTRY MAKING CLASS
Indulge your sweet tooth in our pastry class at Rita’s! If you have a fondness for traditional desserts and cookies prepared in Tuscan homes, this is the culinary experience for you. Arianna & Friends organizes a pastry making class at My Tuscan Kitchen cooking school, in a typical Tuscan cottage with a breathtaking view over the Pisan hills, together with one of our expert chefs.
The charming setting of Rita’s farm in Tuscany
As the cooking traditions of Tuscany trace back to the times when the locals were predominantly farmers, the ideal backdrop for our pastry-making classes is an authentic Tuscan farmhouse. We invite you to Rita’s farm in the countryside just outside Montefoscoli, nestled between Pisa and Volterra. Our class begins with a brief historical introduction to the location, providing you with insights into the origins of our cuisine.
Baking cakes with our chef
After visiting Rita’s farm and getting acquainted with her lovely pets, as well as her chickens and donkeys, we will access our rustic-style cooking school and meet a local cook who will lead our pastry-making class. The setting is very informal and familiar, and the selected recipes and cakes are deeply rooted in the Tuscan culinary tradition. You will gain valuable tips on baking and preparing simple yet delicious cookies, cakes, and pies.
Under the guidance of our cook, you’ll immerse yourself in the art of crafting three quintessential desserts. Choose three from thye
Below you find our menu list with all the desserts:
- Cantuccini alle mandorle e cioccolato – Typical almond & chocolate biscuits
- Torta di mele – Apple cake Tuscan style
- Crostata di frutta – Short crust pastry tart with custard and fresh fruit
- Torta della nonna – Type of custard pie with pine nuts
- Salamino al cioccolato – Salami-shaped dessert made of chocolate, dry biscuits and liquor
- Tiramisù tradizionale al caffè e cioccolato – Traditional Tiramisu with coffee and chocolate
- Tiramisù alle fragole – Strawberry Tiramisu (only in spring and summer)
- Tiramisù all’arancia – Tiramisu with oranges and cinnamon (only in autumn/fall and winter)
- Torta cioccolato e pere – traditional chocolate and pear cake
- Zuppa inglese – Tuscan trifle with custard, sponge biscuits and liquor
- Frittelle di farina di castagne – Type of fried pancakes with chestnut flour served with some sugar, ricotta cheese, chocolate GLUTEN FREE
- Schiacciata con l’uva – Sweet bread oven baked, with grapes (only from August through December) / VEGAN
- Ricciarelli- Typical Christmas cookies with almond flour. Available all year around
The options are abundant, ensuring a delightful selection to suit your taste.
Everything you create during the class will be savored as a “merenda,” the customary Italian snack, alongside coffee or tea. Additionally, any leftovers will be carefully packed for you to take home, allowing you to share the sweetness of your creations with family and friends.
Unleash your creativity in the kitchen and embark on a journey to master the time-honored recipes that have graced Tuscan tables for generations. Join us at Rita’s for a pastry class that promises not only delectable treats but also the joy of sharing them with your loved ones.
Our private classes can be arranged for small groups of max 12 people.
EXTRA: As an additional option, our cook is delighted to prepare a savory dish for you to enjoy before indulging in the desserts you’ve created. Please note that this light lunch incurs an extra charge
A mysterious Temple right next door
Just next to our cooking venue is the stunning Tempio a Minerva Medica a special place rich in history and mysterious legends. On the occasion of our cooking class you will have the chance to stop in front of it for a picture and learn about a few facts. You can learn more about it and enjoy a full guided visit of the temple by clicking here.
What you taste Whom you meet
In our cooking class we like telling you a lot about Tuscan farms and farmers' cooking traditions, introducing you to Tuscan people with their personal stories, careers and characters.
You will have one of our guides as a language assistants and coordinator with you during the whole class. Please, see below all the guides and language assistants who can be with you.
During this experience you will also meet one of our Tuscan cooks who give you the cooking class. Please, see below which cooks you are likely to encounter.
My name is Cristiano. I was born in 1971 and I live in San Giuliano Terme near Pisa.
When I was a child I has lived in Mexico with my family, where i attended an international school in English.
I graduated from the linguistic high school, speaks English, Spanish and French.
I worked as a travel agent for many years and managed tourist reception activities in Morocco.
Since 2024 I have been working for Arianna & Friends.
Passionate about traveling around the world, I love meeting new people and exchanging experiences and stories with them.
In my free time I play tennis, love traveling to Asia and hiking through the Tuscan hills with my friends and my dog Ciccio. 
Ciao! My name is Alessandro and i'm 30 years old. I was born and raised in a charming village near San Miniato, I've spent my life immersed in the beauty of Tuscany. After traveling to England and Spain, I returned home to share my passion for my region.
With years of experience in the hospitality industry, including roles in restaurants, hotels, and pubs, I've honed my skills in providing exceptional guest experiences. My sommelier training has deepened my knowledge of Tuscan wines and cuisine.
Now, as a proud member of the Arianna & Friends team, I'm thrilled to share the stories and traditions of my homeland with visitors from around the world. Join me on a journey through the heart of Tuscany, where history, culture, and breathtaking landscapes come together. 
Hello everybody! My name is Davide, the youngest one in the team of Arianna & Friends. I joined the company in 2022, when my aunt Ester, one of the chefs in the team, introduced me to Arianna & Massimo. I am a wonderful talker and I really enjoy entertaining our guests during cooking classes and foodie tours. I also deal with bookings related to Teatro del Silenzio. Being from Lajatico, I am really happy to arrange holidays to people who will visit my hometown.
I am a very ironic person who likes making life enjoyable, something that my colleagues really appreciate on a daily base. I really hope I can meet many people from all over the world thanks to my job. Ciao ciao! 
Buongiorno a tutti! My name is Anna from San Miniato, a historical town in Tuscany famous also for its delicious white truffles. I met Arianna and Massimo in the early 2000s, when we were all working at a local agriturismo: I was at the reception while they were starting their career as event organizers and food tour operators. As their company was expanding we had several occasions for cooperating until I finally joined the team more stably in 2022. I now deal with accountancy and coordination of all the chefs for the many services a day that we arrange. I spend most of my free time at sea as I now live in Livorno, a beautiful harbor town. 
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. 
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! 
The total rate for this activity varies according to the number of people in your party.
Check rates in the table below.
SPECIAL OFFER! Book your cooking class for 2025 by December 31st 2024 and get a 10% discount!
PASTRY MAKING CLASS AT RITA’S– RATES 2025 – |
|
|---|---|
NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN YOUR PARTY |
TOTAL RATE |
| 2 persons | € 480 |
| 3 persons | € 530 |
| 4 persons | € 580 |
| 5 persons | € 630 |
| 6 persons | € 680 |
| 7 persons | € 730 |
| 8 persons | € 780 |
| Extra Adult | € 50 |
| Extra Teenager (12-17 yrs) | € 40 |
| Child (4-11 yrs) | € 30 |
| EXTRA: As an additional option, our cook is delighted to prepare a savory dish for you to enjoy before indulging in the desserts you’ve created. Please note that this light lunch incurs an extra charge which is 15 euro per person |
|
Rates include
- A 2 or 3-hour pastry cooking class
- A chef at your disposal
- An English tour leader and language assistant. Also available in French, German, Spanish and Russian
- Tasting of the desserts you prepared
- Leftovers to tale home
- Personal aprons as souvenirs
- A short visit to Rita’s farm
- Tax
Rates do NOT include
- Transportation
- light lunch: 15 euro per person
- tips to the staff. Not obligatory but very much appreciated
Transportation is not included in the rates above. For more info on transportation, please see the box “Transportation options”.
This is an email we received from Jana and Roddrick on their honeymoon in Tuscany and doing a truffle hunting tour and a pastry class with us:
Massimo,
Here are the pictures we promised! We had the most amazing time on this whole-day tour with you. We thank you for custom-making this tour to fit all the things we wanted to do! It was simply amazing and we had more fun than we knew what to do with! I know we went to bed smiling and talking about it for many days afterwards. Every part of it was memorable, fun and perfect! If we are ever fortunate enough to come back to Italy, we are certainly booking with you guys and spending more time in that region. I have recommended you guys to my friends who are planning their trip to Italy in March. I know you will give them the same spectacular treatment that you did us! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making our honeymoon memorable and exciting! Hugs to Massimo and all our Italian friends we met along the way!
Sincerely,
Roddrick & Jana
This is another message after we answered them:
Hey Massimo!
You deserved every word. 🙂 I am glad you got the pictures and can use them to remember us. We definitely would love to come back to that region again one day and you KNOW we will be calling you! If you get to come to the US, do not hesitate to call on us! We’d love to see you and we even have an extra room & bathroom to put you up for the night if you need it. 🙂 We talked to our friends that are coming to Italy next May and they are going to start working on their trip so I gave them your website and all the info so they can figure out what they want. Hopefully they will take our advice and use you guys! We talked to Roddrick’s dad a bit about the melon liquor and we bought some in Capri to bring back for him to taste. Of course, it wasn’t quite the same as what we had with you, but it gave him an idea of what we were talking about. He loved the stuff and he said we’d need to sit down and talk about it for sure! SO I’ll keep you informed! 🙂 Thanks for everything and keep in touch!!
Sincerely,
~Jana
This is an email we received from Sallie and Karen, who spent 10 days in Tuscany in our farm and enjoyed our pastry shop experience, our painting class and our cooking class:
Hi Arianna,
Just a quick note to thank you and the team very much for the incredible job you all did during our recent trip to Tuscany. Special thanks to Massimo and Consuelo for helping solve the GPS problem, the replacement Tom Tom worked extremely well and was a definite “must have” for foreigners trying to navigate their way around Italy. Also, to Massimo and Veronica for joining us and translating during our Cooking and Painting classes, their knowledge and experience, without a doubt, enhanced our experience during each of them.
With regard to the Pastry & Pizza Cooking Class we did with Massimo, he mentioned that copies of each of the recipes will be emailed to us, can I also remind you about that please, as we haven’t received them yet?
Thanks again.
Sallie & Karen
This cooking class takes place in the village of Peccioli, in central Tuscany, among Pisa, San Gimignano and Volterra, about 10 km from Selvatelle.
MEET-UP LOCATION:
Unless differently specified, the meeting point with the language assistant is at an easy meeting point near Peccioli. Detailled instructions will be provided.
DURATION:
This program takes from 2 to 4 hous + time for lunch or dinner
AVAILABILITY:
Available all the year through, from Mondays to Saturdays in the morning, followed by lunch, or in the afternoon, followed by dinner.
LANGUAGE:
This class is available in English, German, French, Spanish, Russian or Italian with no surcharge.
DIFFICULTY LEVEL:
Easy
CHILD FRIENDLY:
Ideal for children
CLOTHING:
No particular clothing required.
FOOD RESTRICTIONS:
The foods served during this cooking class might contain gluten, lactose, nuts and alcohol. If you have any food restriction, please inform our personnel during the enquiry process.
TRANSPORTATION:
This program and its rates do not include transportation and are set on a self-driving base. For further information see the box "transportation options".
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