Ravioli Cooking Class in Como – Green Ravioloni with Ricotta

Some doughs tell you where they come from. The sfoglia of these ravioloni is green because spinach is worked straight into the dough – kneaded until the colour runs even and the pasta turns silky under your palms. In this hands-on ravioli pasta masterclass on Lake Como you build it yourself, from the first well of flour to the last fold, with our resident chef beside you at the board.

Then comes the part that decides everything: rolling the sheet to the right thickness, spacing the ricotta filling, pressing the air out and sealing each raviolone so it holds in the pot. They are small gestures – the ones that separate ravioli that burst from ravioli that don’t – and you practise every one of them until your hands remember.

The rolling follows the discipline our resident chef studied at Rina Poletti’s Accademia della Sfoglia, the art of hand-rolled sfoglia we carry on here on Lake Como. No machine between you and the dough: a wooden board, a matterello and the time it takes.

While the work rests, the table turns to the aperitivo: a glass of prosecco and a proper spritz lesson. You learn to make the perfect spritz – Aperol or Campari – so the ritual of the Italian evening comes home with you.

Dessert carries a story. We serve gelato with traditional balsamic vinegar – the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena DOP from Acetaia del Cristo, a family Emilian acetaia where it starts from a single ingredient, cooked grape must, and ages at least twelve years in a battery of casks of different woods until a few drops are enough. Over the last spoonfuls, our resident chef tells you how that vinegar is made: the one matured in cherry-wood barrels is fruity and sweet, sweet-and-sour and perfect on ice cream. Read more about the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena we use.

The masterclass takes place in a modern, elegant yet welcoming home near Como, lasts around three hours, and you eat everything you make – ravioloni, wine and dessert – at one table.