Try one of the following unique cheesemaking classes or courses in Tuscany, a region known for its Pecorino, Caciotta, and goat cheeses as well as its overall cuisine and phenomenal wines.
The below cheesemaking courses range from short day-time cooking classes to intensive multi-day training courses, for more serious aspiring cheesemakers.
1-Semi-Private Cheese Making Class in the heart of Florence
This small group cheesemaking class in the center of Florence offers students the chance to learn how to make a variety of different Italian cheeses, as well as to learn about Tuscan cheeses, jams, and cuisine.
Delight your taste buds with the perfect pairing of cheese and preserves during this half-day cooking class held in the old artisan quarter of Florence. Learn about traditional Tuscan cheesemaking techniques and taste different varieties, from fresh-made ricotta to aged pecorino. For a sweet accompaniment, learn how to turn fruit and sugar into jams and marmalade, and bottle your own jar to take home. Sip Italian wine during the culinary adventure, and receive a recipe book to re-create the authentic flavors back in your own kitchen.
Students will also have the opportunity to take the cheeses that they’ve made home with them.
Group sizes are limited to ensure that each student gets hands-on support.
Read more about this small group cheesemaking class in Florence here.
2-Cheesemaking Class on an Organic Pecorino Farm
This cheesemaking class and experience is organized by Arianna and Friends, a unique tour company based in Tuscany and run by local, Arianna Fazio. It is located near Volterra in Tuscany.
Students who sign up for this class will get to learn how to make their own caciotta cheese, on an organic sheep farm that specializes in producing pecorino cheeses, in the scenic Tuscan countryside!
A tour of the farm as well as an Italian-style lunch and cheese tasting (with vino!) is included in this experience. The whole experience will last about four hours. The cost for two people is 390€ or 195€/person.
Arianna and Friends offer this Tuscan cheesemaking class six days a week (every day except Sunday) with advance reservation. Download a booking form to submit a booking request.
3-The Theory and Practice of Italian Cheese: An intensive multi-day cheesemaking class
This five-day intensive Tuscan cheesemaking course by Sapori and Saperi, located in San Miniato, is designed for professional cheesemakers but novices will also leave with enough training to make simple cheeses. These cheeses include caprino, cow’s milk cheeses, pecorino, and ricotta. Participants also have the option to extend the course to six days and add on a Parmigiano Reggiano cheesemaking class.
The course is led by five veteran Tuscan cheesemakers and includes visits to different farms as well as daily meals, tastings, and demonstrations at local restaurants. It covers cow, sheep, and goat milk cheeses.
Sapori and Saperi’s Theory and Practice of Italian Cheese course dates have been cancelled for 2021, but the 2022 courses are online and available to be booked. 2022 courses include two date ranges: 2022: April 21–25| August 25–29. Courses are limited to a maximum of six people.
Course fees include four nights’ accommodation (single or double room with en suite bathroom), local ground transportation for five days, all meals for four days, and course lectures/sessions.
4-Cheesemaking Experience with Get Tours in Tuscany
This unforgettable hands-on experience will allow students to learn not just how cheese is made but will shed light on what life is like on a Tuscan farm.
Get Tours offers cheesemaking classes in Tuscany or Umbria (you choose the location when you book your experience), with pick-ups available in Tuscany from Florence, Siena, Montepulciano, Cortona, San Gimignano, Pienza, Montalcino, Val d’Orcia area, Chianti (Radda, Greve, Gaiole, Castellina, Panzano), Arezzo, Lucca, or Pisa.
The farms and cheesemakers that Get Tours visits are organic and work with raw milk. This offers the unique opportunity to learn the traditional method of production and aging of Pecorino, the typical Tuscan and Umbrian cheese produced from sheep milk, all while surrounded by views of the gorgeous Tuscan landscape.
With Get Tours, students’ hands-on cheesemaking experience will begin in the morning with a trip to the farm to meet the cheesemaker who will guide your group on a tour of their farm so that you can see how a small, family-owned Tuscan farm is run. After the tour, you will be led to your cheesemaking class where guided by your expert cheesemaker, you will learn how to use milk and other ingredients to create a caciotta in the traditional Tuscan way.
The experience will end with a wonderful farm lunch overlooking the gorgeous countryside, having bruschetta with fresh extra virgin olive oil produced in the farm, handmade pasta, and tasting many different types of pecorino cheese and ricotta, all accompanied with several glasses of good wine.