Good Tastes of Tuscany - Lastra a Signa, Città Metropolitana di Firenze

Luísa Dantas

The days at Accademia Pandolfini (Good taste of tuscany) cooking school were my best tuscan days in Italy. I had a 1 month course, and learned everything about the italian cuisine! The classes are fun and the recipes englobe all the regions very well!
Their property is beautiful and the Lastra a Signa city is a 30 min train ride to arrive at Florence, where u can spend ur weekends!

John Van Tol

We definitely enjoyed the class and the meal we prepared. Just a minor point…the chef was very knowledgeable and informative but a bit stern. A bit more personality would have enhanced the experience even more.

Brice Petruzzelli

A frustrating experience recently that is hopefully an outlier. Upon arrival, our chef was nice but frantically preparing a menu and locating items through the kitchen. There was no real warm welcome. We had to wait about 30 minutes for groceries from the grocery store to use, during which we just stood around awkwardly. We were told the meal was vegetarian and our chef was a vegetarian chef with a restaurant in Florence. The problem is, he was (forced?) to use recipes from a book on display in the industrial kitchen we were in that he was unfamiliar with.

Instead of being a calm, fun experience, this class was filled with 5-10 phone calls from the chef asking where various tools and pans and implements were. When telling us how to make his vegetarian broth, he discovered two of the three ingredients (white onion and celery, basic ingredients a kitchen should have) were nowhere to be found. This chef was cooking from a recipe book that he was unfamiliar with so there was a lot of “hmm” and questions coming from him towards the recipes, which took much longer to do because of the unfamiliarity. Because of this, our group of four was basically working one at a time and taking turns due to lack of familiarity.

Because of all this trouble, we never finished cooking all the items we should have. We spent over an hour prepping a short crust pastry and filling for it, as well as cracking eggs for meringue. Mind you, the kitchen did not even have the proper tin for this dessert so it was doomed from the start. The owner had to run out and get cupcake tins, which the pastry did not work with.

The third item of the meal, a delicious risotto, was finished right at the 5 hour mark at 3PM. Our chef had to leave but we basically asked politely how to taste the pastry and cream. He threw something together but we never made meringue. In the last 20 minutes, we had to eat a full plate of creamy blue cheese risotto and a small pastry tart. Even though we ran out of time with the chef, we were never made welcome to stay and finish our dessert. We had to quickly eat it, without meringue and out of a tin that was incorrect. We were not allowed to stay despite never finishing our meal and were essentially kicked out by the owner.

This was the worst experience and an absolute WASTE of a day in beautiful Firenze.

Nik Onyx

I recently did a cooking class at Good Tastes of Tuscany, Lastra a Signa. The chef Alberto was very professional and experienced. He was so patient explaining all the processes of preparing/cooking fresh Tuscan food. We made fresh ravioli burro e salvia , gnocchi al ragu and Etruria chicken. All the tricks of the trade. I learnt so much, then you get to eat all this beautiful food at a lovely dining hall setting and drink wine from the vineyards of the beautiful Pandolfini nearby (which you can book and stay) Where else can you eat your own food which is so fresh!? The cooking school is amazing, what an experience. I’ll 100% be back and be telling all my friends. Enjoy !

Em Flynn Pesquera

My family and I took a class with Chef Luciano Piacenza, and it was a once in a lifetime class! We learned how to make so many foods, we went outside in the backyard to pick basil and rosemary for the dishes, there was focaccia, and pasta, and main dishes, and scrumptious sides, and a dessert with a fruit compote. I left stuffed and content, and have recommended it to so many friends. Thanks for an incredible experience!

Cheryl Garrett

You will be forever glad you spent a day or more learning from the Chefs at Good Taste of Tuscany school. I was among the first group to take the month-long Master Certificate program in Italian cuisine and it was the most incredible experience! In addition, i returned with a group from the US and enrolled many of them in a one day class which they loved! The chefs are patient, knowledgeable and handle a diverse group very well! I have returned several times and look forward to taking another group!

Nicole Morze

Great cooking school just outside Florence. We stayed here for 3 nights on the beautiful estate and did 3 x 4 hour cooking lessons. What a magical experience! The chefs were very informative, entertaining and we picked up many great tips. Would highly recommend Good Tastes of Tuscany to everyone.

bart klerkx

Me and my daughter did this class and it was one of my best experiences. Location + kitchen were unique and authentic. My Italian improved also during this trip. The owner spoke also very well English which is very unique. We rented also a villa from them with a swimming pool overseeing Florence and the Tuscan landscape. Thanks for making this one of my best experiences.