If you ever get the chance to go to Florence and want to learn some Italian cooking I can highly recommend the two cooking schools I attended and the bed and breakfast
I stayed in.
The first cooking school that took was Toscana Mia with Simonetta.
You could be in their country home or in Florence at their apartment. They can help you with your Italian, as well as great lessons in cooking. Simonetta was patient, funny and supremely knowledgeable. With her I learned to make pasta, saltimboca and many other goodies. We ate with her father after every cooking lesson, and laughed and had wine and chatted about food and customs.
The second school was with the Instituto Galilei. I think that they are mainly a language school, but had great choices for cooking lessons, also.
I chose the fish restaurant, and learned much. The school had a student escort me to the restaurant the first day and introduced me to the chef. I learned how to clean squid, among many other exciting skills. From Alessio, the chef, I learned more than recipes. I gained confidence in tasting, adjusting, and using wine in cooking.
Both cooking schools were helpful, patient, and were willing to teach me anything that I wanted to learn.
Another wonderful experience was the bed and breakfast I stayed in. It was right in the middle of the historical district of Florence, had great amenities,
and was charming in all aspects. I was usually exhausted after the cooking courses and was so relieved to get back to the kind attention of Claudio and Christelle. The Tourist House Ghiberti is the place to stay.There was a restaurant two doors down that was a treat, there was a tobacco store next door, there was the history of Florence in every step.
