How Our Cooking Class Works – Step by Step

Before you arrive

Choose one of our four masterclasses, a date and the number of guests, then send the form. No upfront payment. Our team confirms within 24 hours by email or WhatsApp; that’s also when we sort out payment details together (bank transfer or Stripe on arrival).

Address: Via Teresa Ciceri 10A, 22100 Como — a 10-minute walk from the historic centre and the lake. Show up 10 minutes early. Aprons provided, bring only your hands.

The ritual, step by step (~3 hours)

1. Welcome at the bench: your panetto

You start at your own wooden board, with flour and eggs. You mix, you knead, and the dough slowly becomes a smooth panetto — yours, from the first minute.

2. The rest, and the balsamico

The panetto is wrapped in cling film and set aside to rest: pasta doesn’t like to be rushed. While it rests, depending on your masterclass, our resident chef introduces the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena DOP from Acetaia del Cristo — the few drops that finish the gelato at the end of the meal — or prepares the sauce in front of you. It is a family acetaia, three generations old, where the balsamic is made from a single ingredient, cooked grape must, and aged at least twelve years in a battery of wooden casks; the cherry-barrel one is fruity and sweet, perfect on ice cream. Read more about the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena we use.

3. The spritz lesson

A short lesson on the most Italian of rituals: you learn to build a proper spritz, Aperol or Campari, measure by measure — you make your own and sip it as your aperitivo. A small skill you take home.

4. The chef’s sfoglia demonstration

Our resident chef rolls out a sheet of dough with the wooden rolling pin, following the method of Rina Poletti’s Accademia della Sfoglia. You watch the dough become sfoglia: thin, even, alive. We tell the story of that tradition on our story page.

5. You roll and cut

Then it’s your turn. You stretch your own sfoglia and cut your shape — tagliatelle, green ravioloni, farfalle or garganelli, depending on the class you chose — with our resident chef beside you, correcting hands and pressure as you go.

6. The table

Your pasta goes into the pot and arrives at the table minutes later. You eat what you made, with wine, and finish with gelato and a few drops of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena DOP from Acetaia del Cristo. The recipes follow by email.

The four masterclasses

• Tagliatelle Masterclass – Fresh Tomato — hand-rolled tagliatelle, fresh cherry tomato sauce, gelato with traditional balsamic vinegar
• Tagliatelle Masterclass – Ragù Bolognese — rolling-pin tagliatelle and a slow-cooked ragù
• Ravioloni Verdi Masterclass – Ricotta — green spinach sfoglia, ravioloni filled with ricotta
• Farfalle e Garganelli Masterclass – Ragù — two shapes and two tastings from a single sfoglia

Each masterclass is €150 per person, in sessions of up to 12 guests; larger private groups at a special rate on request.

What’s included

• Apron and all ingredients
• Guidance from our resident chef
• A spritz lesson (your own Aperol or Campari spritz, enjoyed as aperitivo)
• The meal you cook, with wine
• Dessert: gelato with traditional balsamic vinegar (Acetaia del Cristo)
• Recipes emailed to you

Frequent questions

Allergies, gluten, groups, payment, cancellation — all answered on our FAQ page.