Pizza or Pasta & Gelato Cooking Class at a Tuscan Farm from Florence

From Santa Maria Novella into the Tuscan countryside

The class begins at Santa Maria Novella, Florence's main railway station, opposite the green and white marble basilica of the same name. From the taxi stand your guide leads the group to the transfer, and within a short drive the city's terracotta roofs give way to the hills of Tuscany, with olive groves, cypress-lined lanes and old stone farmhouses.

For anyone looking for a cooking class in Tuscany from Florence without renting a car, this is the practical answer: the transport is organised both ways, and you are back at the station in the evening. The drive itself is part of the experience, a first look at the landscape that produces so many of the ingredients you will use, from olive oil to garden vegetables.

The Tuscan farm estate and its kitchen garden

The class takes place on a private farm estate with a large, modern teaching kitchen, a wood-fired oven and a kitchen garden where tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, aubergines and herbs grow through the warm months. Farms like this are typical of the countryside around Florence: working land with orchards, olive trees and vegetable plots, built around a stone house with a shaded courtyard.

Before cooking, the chef introduces the estate and the idea behind Tuscan cuisine, simple dishes built on a few excellent seasonal ingredients. Wear comfortable shoes, as the grounds are on a slope with uneven paths. There is time to take photos of the view across the hills, especially in the golden light of late afternoon.

Making gelato, Florence's favourite sweet

The first task is gelato. Florentines like to say that gelato was born at their grand-ducal court in the 16th century, and the city is still full of gelaterie competing for the creamiest pistachio or the most intense chocolate. In the class you choose your flavour, prepare the base with milk, sugar and fresh ingredients and learn what makes Italian gelato denser and silkier than ordinary ice cream: less air and less fat.

The mixture is set aside while you cook, and the chef brings it back for the finale. Liquid nitrogen, at about minus 196 degrees, freezes the gelato in seconds in a cloud of white vapour, a moment children and adults love to film. This gelato making class in Florence is as much fun as it is useful.

Pizza dough and the wood-fired oven

Next comes the main lesson of this pizza making class in Florence. The chef shows how to mix flour, water, yeast and salt, how long to knead and how to stretch the dough by hand without a rolling pin, so that the edge puffs up and the centre stays thin. You then choose your toppings from the vegetables picked on the estate, with tomato sauce and mozzarella as the base.

Each pizza goes into the wood-fired oven, where temperatures of around 400 degrees bake it in a couple of minutes and give the crust its light, blistered finish. Vegetarians are well served, as the toppings are garden vegetables. On the morning option the lesson is fresh pasta instead: two classic shapes rolled by hand, with a sausage ragu and a butter and sage sauce.

The shared meal and recipes to keep

When everything is ready, the group sits down together at long tables to eat the pizzas and gelato everyone has made, the best part of the afternoon for most guests. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, a good chance to talk with travellers from other countries and ask the chef any last questions.

At the end you receive printed recipes so you can repeat the dough and the gelato after your trip, and the transfer brings you back to Santa Maria Novella. If you want more time in the kitchen, the 7-hour morning class adds a full pasta lesson with sauces made from scratch, and both options are shown in the booking panel.