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Cittadella offers residential cookery courses specialising in the authentic, seasonal flavours of Italy located in an historic borghetto set amid the breathtaking scenery of the Monti Sibillini National Park in Southern Le Marche. During the course you will have the opportunity of watching local cooks at work creating regional dishes which have been passed from generation to generation. As well as traditional recipes, you will be be taught modern interpretations with which you can dazzle your friends back home. The five day, six night courses run from Sunday to Saturday for a maximum of 10 participants. As well as cookery lessons and demonstrations you will enjoy tutored tastings of local wines and produce, trips to beautiful hill top villages , art Towns and the Adriatic Coast. You will also get a genuine insight into life in the Italian mountains, visiting markets, speaking Italian and enjoy the warm Italian hospitality. These courses offer a wonderful opportunity to savour the unique flavours, sights and smells of this beautiful rural region of Italy and enjoy spectacular scenery and total relaxation. Le Marche Situated in mid Italy between the Adriatic Sea and the Sibillini mountain range of the Appenines. The region has borders touching, Tuscany and Umbria, Emilia Romana and Abruzzo. Its two main cities are Urbino in the north and Ascoli Piceno in the south. The region is a diverse mixture of hill top towns, rural and mountain scenery inland and seaside coastal resorts. It is still a relatively unknown region to foreigners and is an intriguiging mixture of modern prosperity and traditional rusticity. Le Marche is almost untouched by tourism outside Italy itself and therefore offers a rare insight into real Italian life. Its beauty is unique and astonishing with a wealth of ancient hilltop towns against the dramatic backdrop of the mountains and the blue sparkling Adriatic sea. Eating in the region is taken seriously for good reason, the food is delicious in its simplicity and in the use of local and seasonal ingredients. Cooking is still an hereditary skill and the dishes which include a lot of mountain ingredients are surprisingly rich and luxurious . Porcini mushrooms and truffles are used everywhere and without fuss. The wine is diverse and extremely good, the wines of the Conero on the coast especially renowned. Le Marche is also a fantastic shopping destination as 70% of Italian shoes are manufactured here and there are countless factory shops to visit. The Tod's shop is a particular mecca. Cittadella and your accomodation Cittadella is nestled beneath a spectacular mountain range, set in its own grounds with breath taking views. Cittadella once a tiny hamlet, now converted by an Italian family into a 18 room Agriturismo. Each room has been sympathetically restored offering comfort and character. Each bedroom comes with a private bathroom. The reception rooms are all oak beamed, with terracotta floors, furnished with antique and country furniture .There is a large glass fronted dining room, lots of shaded areas to eat and relax outside also a huge swimming pool with the most spectacular views. The kitchen is a professional one as Cittadella is a very popular restaurant and hotel with Italians in the summer months. The restaurant is open at weekends to non guests.,.The proprietor Silvio is a member of the Slow Food Movement. An organisation which promotes the production of genuine locally produced Italian food maintaining old traditions and is the antithesis to fast, modern food. The food at Cittadella comprises of several courses, absolutely authentic often home grown and always home produced. The popularity of the restaurant, the sheer amount of people that pack it out most of the year says it all about the food and speaks volumes about the love of Italians for all things traditional and Italian. Spring 2006-Primavera Italy is famous for its glorious spring season, the course is a celebration of spring in the Italian mountains. Nestled comfortably below the mountains there could be nowhere better to experience it. Walking in the mountains witnessing the amazing display of wild flowers , bubbling streams, hearing the sheep bells in the surrounding fields, watching the sun set behind the mountain from the terrace, bird song competing with crickets, magical fire flies and clear, starry nights and nightingale song. Days spent in the warm sun by the pool amid the splendour of the scenery, eating a long lunch out side soaking up the views, wandering about the ancient hill top towns or relaxing on a beach after lunch in a beach side restaurant.All this is on offer during your stay at Cittadella. Then theres the cooking and the wonderful array of fresh produce available from May onwards in Le Marche. Spring time dishes sourced from past tradition transformed into easy but impressive modern dishes which you will be able to do again back home. Fresh herbs, Asparagus, broad beans, spring lamb, fresh river trout , mushrooms will all play apart in the dishes you will be cooking. Visits to buy the produce at a local market and a chance for you to speak Italian everyday, all day if you wish to. The course is a celebration of spring in the Italian mountains .Silvios mother, the principle chef at Cittadella will be demonstrating her skills with pasta, sauces, biscotti, bread, antipasta dishes etc. Fiona will tutor you through some modern interpretations of her favourite tried and tested Italian dishes devised in the form of dinner party menus. The course endeavours to immerse you in rural, genuine Italian cookery, offering tips and advise, and making the whole experience enlightening and fun. The Italian approach to cookery is relaxed and rustic, an attitude we try to get our students to adopt, at the same time serious enough for you to feel you have really achieved something by the end of your week. There will be wine tasting and tuition and a chance to get to know all about Salami and Pecorino cheese. There will be lots of chances to visit local towns for Coffee and Gelati, to browse about and take it all in. You will get many oppotunities to eat in the local restaurants and sample the local cuisine. A day out of the kitchen is organised to visit the beaches of the Conero, the best in the whole region yet quiet in Spring, have a fish lunch at a beach side restaurant, sun bathe in the afternoon and drop in to the beautiful and fascinating town of Loreto the most important pilgram destination in Europe after Lourdes. We will also take you to the Capital city of this region, Ascoli Piceno another ancient, beautiful and compelling town. There will be a chance to do some retail therapy for those interested with a trip to some designer outlet shops. If it all sounds to active however you have the huge , brand new, Cittadella swimming pool all to yourselves where you are free to while away your time or swim off some of that delicious food you have been indulging in. Mountain walks in this area are dazzling and not to strenuous and close enough to the Bourghetto or right outside the door if you like, so that a good stomp in the mountains is easily achieved with time to fit everything else in too. Horse riding and cycling can be arranged too and accompanied treks for the more intrepid. The course is not only about acquiring new skills in the kitchen. You will by the end of the week have been immersed in culture, tradition, mountain scenery , speaking the language and meeting the people. Non participant guests are more than welcome; for non-foodies there is a wealth of culture,walking and treking as well as sun worshipping and swimming in the huge pool.All weather permitting. We run the course on a relaxed timetable giving over plenty of time to chill out and just enjoy where you are. Long langourous lunches and dinners after a work-out in the kitchen followed always by siesta or tome off. There are plenty of opportunities to walk and exercise to compensate for the delicious food and wine. At the end of the week we hope you will leave with memories of experiencing an truely Italian Spring first hand. All students will be presented with recipe booklets of the dishes they have seen and prepared, an apron and fond recollections of delicious food and wine, good company beautiful scenery and an overriding desire to come back to Le Marche. Spring 2006- The Flavours of Primavera The Springtime flavours of the cuisine of the Sibillinis burst with the bright, fresh flavours of asparagus, spring herbs and mountain lamb. The pastures are filled wild flowers and the pantries are filled with fresh cheeses, prosciutto and salamis. .......more details Dates & Prices Contact Us CONTACT US FOR ANY INFORMATION YOU WOULD LIKE : TELEPHONE 0039 0733 661600 MOBILE 333 351 9833 WE ARE ENGLISH SPEAKING EMAIL US ON: cittadellacookery@hotmail.com Back to Food & Wine Back to Links |
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