Angelo Preparing Rabbit to Roast in Selva's Wood-fired Oven Making Pasta Under Angelo's Watchful Eye Selecting Fresh Fish from the Morning's Catch

Angelo Prosperi-Porta was inspired by his Italian heritage to create a cuisine for his Cooper’s Cove Guesthouse, Angelo now brings his interactive cooking classes to Tuscany. You enjoy hands-on lessons showcasing Angelo’s emphasis on freshness and flavors. Angelo is passionate about good food and will quickly tell you that it’s obvious when a dish is prepared with love.

In 2006, Angelo's cookbook, Flavours of Cooper's Cove Guesthouse, written with Ina Haegemann, was an Independent Publishers Book Awards winner and placed third in the Cuisine Canada Culinary Book Awards. It was also named Best First Book in English from the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Now you can join Angelo as he takes his popular teaching techniques to the Abbondanza Toscana School of Cookery as guest chef for a week.

Planning the day’s menu with Angleo will depend on what looks best at the local markets. A seaside fishmonger may recommend the catch of the day for dinner. Your visit to a hilltop salumeria to learn about local pork products might inspire that evening’s antipasto. Our local butcher will be happy to consult on the best cut for that night’s featured dish. You’ll visit the estate’s olive press (the original one dates from 1759) to discover the source of the piquant olive oil used in all our cooking. Pairing wine with food is a critical part of enjoying the meal, and you’ll visit wineries in Chianti and taste wine in caves underneath the city of Lucca.

Local restaurants and chefs add to your full immersion in the food lover’s experience. Meals in Lucca and Chianti give you an opportunity to experience regional specialties. Emanuela Dini, the delightful Abbondanza Toscana cook, will collaborate with Angelo on a few traditional Lucchese dishes, handed down to her from her mother and presented with her own unique flair.

Pizza night at Selva is always a special treat, and Eduardo, our local baker, works with you to design your own pizza, with the special flavour of a wood-fired oven.

Highlights:

Early one morning you travel to a nearby seaside town to select fish caught just a few hours before.

A day trip to Chianti includes tours of award-winning wineries, a state-of-the-art enoteca, shopping in small villages and buying from local artisans, and dining in hillside restaurants with expansive views of vineyards and olive groves.

You’ll immerse yourself in the jewel city of Lucca, with a guided tour of its Medieval center, marbled churches containing masterworks, walk along the famous Renaissance walls, and hear a Puccini concert in a Romanesque church.

You'll make your own limoncello and grappa.

In caves under the city of Lucca, you’ll experience a tasting of specially selected Super Tuscan wines.

What Angelo's participants have to say:

Angelo's personalized instruction into the culinary world of Tuscany feasted our senses and enriched our souls." --Dorothy Kennedy and Randy Bouchard, Victoria, BC Canada

"It was a fabulous experience in a beautiful setting. Everything from learning to cook local Italian foods to tasting wines in a cave under the city of Lucca came together to make this a trip we will remember for the rest of our lives! We will recommend this trip to all our food loving friends." --Jill and Bob Squires, Tacoma, WA USA

Web site:

To learn more about Angelo Prosperi-Porta and the Coopers Cove Guesthouse, visit www.cooperscove.com.