Fettuccine, Ravioli & Tiramisu Cooking Class near Piazza Navona Rome

The cooking room near Piazza Navona

The class takes place inside a restaurant just off the northern end of Piazza Navona, in the old Ponte district, a quarter of cobbled lanes, Renaissance palaces and antique shops along Via dei Coronari. It is an easy walk from the Pantheon, Castel Sant'Angelo and Campo de' Fiori, so the class fits neatly into a day of sightseeing.

Each guest works at a personal station with a board, rolling pin and fresh ingredients, while professional chefs demonstrate every step and come round to help. Groups are friendly and international, and no experience is needed. Arrive ten minutes early to settle in and wash your hands. If you are looking for a pasta making class in Rome that is truly hands-on rather than a demonstration, this format is exactly that.

Tiramisu from scratch

You begin with dessert so it has time to set. Tiramisu, whose name means pick me up, is one of Italy's most loved puddings, created in northeastern Italy in the second half of the twentieth century and now made in every Roman trattoria.

Your chef shows you how to whisk eggs and sugar into a light cream, fold in smooth mascarpone, dip savoiardi ladyfingers quickly in strong coffee so they stay firm, and build the layers in your own dish. A dusting of cocoa finishes it before it goes to the fridge. The secret, the chefs say, is patience and very fresh eggs. You eat your tiramisu at the end of dinner, and the recipe book lets you repeat it for friends after your trip.

Fresh pasta by hand: fettuccine and ravioli

The heart of the class is pasta made the traditional way: a well of flour, fresh eggs in the centre, and your hands doing all the work. You knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, rest it, then roll it into a thin sheet with a rolling pin, as Roman grandmothers have done for generations.

Half the sheet becomes fettuccine, the long flat ribbons that are Rome's favourite fresh pasta, cut by hand to an even width. The rest becomes ravioli: you place the filling, fold, seal and cut each parcel, learning how to press out the air so they hold together in boiling water. The chefs share tips on texture, thickness and drying, so you can make fresh pasta anywhere.

Roman sauces and dinner at the table

For your fettuccine you choose one of three classic sauces. Tomato and basil is bright and simple. Cacio e pepe, the shepherds' dish of the Roman countryside, is only pecorino romano cheese, black pepper and pasta water. Amatriciana, from the mountain town of Amatrice, combines tomato, pecorino and cured pork cheek; choose one of the other two if you avoid pork. The ravioli are served with melted butter and sage.

The restaurant kitchen cooks and plates your pasta while you take your seat, so dinner arrives like a proper restaurant meal. You eat fettuccine, ravioli and your tiramisu with a soft drink or water, then finish with an espresso. Tell us about any allergies when booking so the chefs can prepare.

Piazza Navona and the surrounding streets

Piazza Navona keeps the long oval shape of the athletics stadium built here in the first century AD, and today it is one of the most beautiful squares in Rome. Three fountains decorate it, led by the Baroque Fountain of the Four Rivers, with the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone rising behind.

With the evening class you finish at about dinner time, the best time to walk the square as the fountains are lit and street artists set up their easels. The Pantheon is five minutes away and the Tiber about ten, so it is easy to stroll back to your hotel or catch a taxi from Corso Rinascimento. In the morning, the Campo de' Fiori market nearby sells many of the ingredients you used.