L’arte di mangiar bene, the art of eating well, lies at the heart of the Italian lifestyle — and that’s just what you’ll enjoy during this cookery week. You’ll learn the secrets of healthy eating from The Watermill team, among them an Italian grandmother, an organic farmer and our gardener’s wife! You’ll choose freshest local ingredients (many from our own gardens) and prepare them deliciously. We’ll visit markets, vegetable gardens, olive groves and vineyards.
The Italians are the healthiest people in Europe and this is due not just the quality of the food, but to la bella vita italiana, the relaxed lifestyle which means taking time to talk to friends and to enjoy their company, not least in convivial meals around the dining table. You’ll be savouring all that, too.
You’ll stay in stylish bedrooms in elegant buildings around the sunlit courtyard. The mill’s gardens, secluded millstream paths and riverside walks are all yours to enjoy. This is the art of eating – and living – well!
Our unique cookery course
On this cookery course with a difference, you’ll gain hands-on experience of cooking mouth-watering, healthy Italian meals with the freshest ingredients. The emphasis will be on culinary techniques that will help propel the healthy Italian lifestyle into your own home.
Our team is led by Lois Breckon, who has masterminded the Watermill menus for many years, and her friend and colleague Ingrid Fabbian, an expert on nutrition, as well on the preparation of home-made pasta and bread. Our Italian experts include our cook, grandmother Mirella Musetti, professional chef Angelina Benedetti, organic farmer Federica La Sala and our gardener’s wife Marida Tognini. We will share their decades of culinary and horticultural experience, based on knowledge passed through the generations of Italians.
Your hands-on cooking sessions and our daily demonstrations will cover many aspects of the Italian and Tuscan cucina, from appetisers (antipasti) to after-dinner biscuits (biscottini) and much else in between; from pane to pasta, through main courses, to homemade puddings and ice cream.
There will also be trips out to markets and food producers, to an ice-cream parlour and a hill-top gourmet restaurant, and a panigacci evening (rounds of unleavened bread brought hot to your table and served with local hams and cheeses.) So, as well as learning l’arte di mangiar bene you’ll also sample the vita bella italiana.
Everything is included in the cost of your cooking at the watermill: all tuition, accommodation (including all linen and towels), pre-dinner aperitifs, all meals and wines (including outings to charming local restaurants) and all local transportation (including transfers to Pisa airport and an excursion by train to Lucca or the Cinque Terre). You get to Pisa, Italy, we do the rest!
Please go to www.watermill.net to learn more.
