The whole experience...staying at Casa Massimo in Montestigliano, visiting the near-by wineries, and spending the day with Gina learning the fine art of Italian cooking...was wonderful!!! We traveled from Rome to Florence over a 2 1/2 week vacation and spent seven wonderful days outside of Siena. Gina arranged everything for us. She's Italian/American and splits her time between the US... More

We were so pleased we joined the one day cooking class with Gina Stipo. It was held in a beautiful old mill in the countryside just outside Siena. Gina was very informative about the area and her knowledge of italian food made it very interesting. We enjoyed making out own pasta and learning about the different herbs and spices to... More

While visiting Siena for a weekend, I took one of Gina's one-day cooking classes, which turned out to be the highlight of my whole month in Italy. The class consisted only of me and one other couple. Under Gina's guidance, we made a four-course meal that we then ate over a leisurely lunch with 3 different wines to accompany it.... More

All our days in Tuscany were special but the day we spent in cooking school with Gina and a few other classmates will remain in our memories forever. First, cooking in a 900 + year old renovated mill/farmhouse/B&B in the gorgeous Tuscan countryside felt like a dream. Gina had the kitchen laid out with beautiful fresh ingredients all local, charming... More

We learned and ate a lot at this cooking school! Gina is extremely friendly and taught us so much about Tuscan cuisine. We also received her cookbook as part of the course - the cookbook is easy to read and looks like the recipes will be simple to follow. Gina was also helpful in explaining comparable ingredients that can be... More

Gina is warm, engaging and knows her stuff when it comes to Tuscan food! Even if you are an experienced cook you can learn a lot from this class - whenever I was after a more in depth explanation or had questions about preparing other Tuscan food (not on the menu that day) Gina was more than happy to provide... More

Despite all the great food in Tuscany, what we made in class was some of the most memorable, and I've had the panzella salad and the chitara pasta once already since we've returned a few days ago. Gina is going to tell you about everything from salting the water, choosing DOCG wine, to which contrada to cheer for at Il... More

This was one of our highlights of our stay in Tuscany! Gina, Ryan and Sira make a great team with a good balance between professionalism and fun. The experience of preparing, cooking and then sharing the meal with Gina and Ryan, along with some local wines was an something that we would highly recommend - and at last we can... More

Ecco La Cucina is in a 900 year old farmhouse and is wonderful. It is owned and operated by an American who has been living in Tuscany for 15 years. Our class was taught by an American chef who studied under the owner. We made a 4 course delicious meal and learned how to make fresh pasta by hand. After... More