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Overview
La Culinaria has so much to offer. Experience the vast range of cuisine and viticulture available in Le Marche, which changes as the seasons change. Taste the flavours of Italy fresh from the garden and the cheese-maker. Cook with local products under expert guidance in a small group of appreciative gourmets. Each season is a little different, not just with respect to the fresh produce available at the markets but also our activities.
Outside of the daily cooking classes your time may be divided between swimming in the lake, walking in the hills, horse riding, or absolutely nothing at all! Bring a book and soak up the mountain quiet.
| Example Itinerary |
| Saturday: In the afternoon collection from Ancona airport, Fabbriano or Camerino railway stations. In the evening join us for local aperitivi and prosecco. Dinner is prepared for you and served al fresco in the stone courtyard. |
| Sunday: An introduction to the course following by a tour of the facilities. Cooking course followed by lunch made by you. A free afternoon then at 17:00 a talk by our prosciutto, salumi and truffle expert followed by a second cooking class. Dinner made by you. |
| Monday: Pasta making class. Lunch made by you followed by an afternoon at your leisure. At 17:00 an olive oil tasting session and talk. Overview of Italian cheeses followed by a short cooking class. Dinner made by you. |
| Tuesday: Visit the coast and Civitanova Marche fish market to buy seasonal fresh seafood for our dinner. Watch how to make pentolaccia, a traditional fish and shellfish stew, then sample it for lunch. After lunch swim and sunbathe in the sunshine. A session on cooking fish at 17:00 followed by dinner made by you. |
| Wednesday: Learn to make pizza dough this morning and suggest toppings. For lunch we visit a local farm to cook pizza in a traditional wood oven. Afternoon at leisure followed at 17:00 by wine tasting and a talk on wine production. Short cooking class followed by dinner made by you. |
| Thursday: Wine tasting, and tour of vineyard and production at the famous Cooperativo Belisario. Lunch followed by an afternoon at your leisure. At 17:00 a cooking class: how to bottle fruit and vegetables, make jams, preserves, pickles and relish. Dinner made by you. |
| Friday: Trip to Montecavallo to see traditional prosciuto and salume production. Picnic lunch followed by an afternoon at your leisure. At 17:00 an introduction to liqueur making followed by a cooking class. Farewell dinner made by you. |
| Saturday: Breakfast and departure for Ancona airport, Fabbriano or Camerino railway stations. |
The building housing La Culinaria is a grand 17th century ‘casa padronale’ lovingly restored by the Davies family. The grounds include a kitchen garden, vineyard, formal garden, fruit trees and hillside meadow for sun bathing and walks. It is situated in a sleepy farming hamlet with stunning views of the mountains, forests, fields and hills.
| Pricing |
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We generally run 2 week long and 2 weekend courses (sometimes 3) each season as follows:
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Spring: Weeks: 10th - 17th May & 17th - 24th May |
£1,350 |
| Weekend: 12th - 14th May & 19th - 21st May |
£500 |
Summer: 21st - 28th June, 28th June - 5th July & 5th - 12th July |
£1,350 |
| Weekends: To be confirmed |
£500 |
Autumn: To be confirmed |
£1,350 |
| Weekends: To be confirmed |
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Balance to be paid 60 days before start of the course. A deposit of £200 is required per person to secure a booking (or the full amount where travel is within 60 days). If balance is paid 90 days in advance, flight from Stansted, UK is inclusive. |
Accommodation
Guests on our courses stay in a local ‘Agriturismo’. These hallowed places are typical in the Italian countryside. They are old farmhouses which have been lovingly restored by their owners, and turned into quiet, rustic accommodation for people wishing to find peace in the countryside, and a taste of traditional Italy. Family run, they rarely boast more than three or four bedrooms. All are situated amongst rolling hills and woodland.
The rooms are spacious and comfortable, adorned with local handcrafts, wooden beams and terracotta tiles. There are wooden shutters inside and out. All rooms have en suite bathrooms and independent entrances, heating and a telephone.
Although most of the accommodation is within walking distance we will collect you and transport you to and from La Culinaria each day should you require. After a delicious, lazy meal, one doesn’t always feel like hill walking!
Chef
Angeline has been passionate about Italian food and culture since her first visit to  Italy when she toured out of the way villages in little known areas of this rich and diverse country, meeting with little old ladies, grandmothers; in short, the people who really know how to cook, who have worked the land for years, use their own produce when it is abundant and in season, and have the most exacting of food critics: their husbands!
After graduating in Classics Angeline turned to her real love in life: cooking. She has worked for a variety of prestigious restaurants and catering companies in London and the diplomatic community in Rome as chef, manager and organiser. Her philosophy on food is simple: Excellent ingredients, prepared with real enthusiasm make excellent food.
Angeline is ably assisted by our truffle, cheese and norcineria expert, Luca Castraberte and assistant chefs Gina Croft and Jim Golding-Graham.
Location
Le Marche is Italy 's secret region. Some of the cleanest coastline of the Adriatic sea offers up an enormous range of crustacea,  moluscs and fish. Further inland, the coastal plain, supporting olive groves and verdicchio vineyards, climbs up into the rugged Sibiline mountains where a wider selection of hardier grapes are grown, where shepherds are glimpsed in the distance, tending their sheep, creating the creamy-sharp peccorino cheese characteristic of this region. Contadini construct wooden fences to keep out the wild boar, another local speciality, as are other types of game such as venison, hare and wildfowl. Prosciutto, salame and ciauscolo mature in cellars next to last year's wine.
Camerino is the closest town to La Culinaria. Cobbled, narrow streets and medieaeval fortification walls characterise this historic town which did battle with Cesare Borgia and housed Crivelli and the famous 14th century Camerino School of painters. There has been a university here since 1336. With the high population of educated people there is much innovation in the food, restaurants and wines of the region combining old rustic traditions with new schools of thought and highly appreciative palates.
How to Get Here
To reach La Culinaria you should get to either Ancona airport, Fabbriano or Camerino railway stations. We'll pick you up from there.
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Contact Details:
Angeline Davies
La Culinaria
Italy
Tel: (UK) 00 44 (0)7733 266700 or Italy: 00 39 338 3158540
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