Puglia Cooking class "Le orecchiette, che pasta!"
Recommended by 94% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Taranto, Italy
- 4 hours 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Orecchiette is one of the most traditional specialties from Puglia, but you may not know the trick to make this unique ear-shaped pasta. With this small-group, countryside cooking class, learn how to turn out orecchiette like a true Italian nonna and discover other classic dishes made with seasonal herbs and vegetables grown in the Itria Valley. Celebrate your new skill with a multi-course meal featuring your freshly made pasta.
- Learn to make Puglia’s classic orecchiette pasta in a country home
- Insights into the Valley di Itria’s traditional cuisine with a local cook
- Prepare a starter, fresh pasta and sauce, a meat dish, and vegetables
- A final meal with wine to cap off your experience
Sample Menu
Starter
La Frisa or Acqua sala
A typical but unusual Puglia starter.
Main
Orecchiette with sauce
Main alternative pasta course with plain tomato sauce, always available.
Main
Brasciole or Cime di Rapa
Depending on the season, we can offer a meat sauce (Brasciole) or the vegetarian Cime di rapa sauce, a typical vegetable.
Main
Vegetables and appetizers
Seasonal vegetables as contour.
Main
Fruit
Seasonal and organic fruit
What's Included
- Beverages (local red wine: Negramaro, Salice or Primitivo)
- Bottled water
- Lunch3-course lunch
- Coffee and/or Tea
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Nord Salento Tourvia Padula del Cimitero, sn, 72013 Ceglie Messapica BR, Italy
I will send you the position via Whatsapp, but in case of difficulties reach the cemetery of Ceglie Messapica on the SPexSS581, just outside the city. Before the cemetry, go in the tiny road called "Padula del Cimitero". Go straight on for about 200 yd till number 3 white a white gate.
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.What To Expect
1
Valle d’itria e Dintorni
2
I Trulli di Alberobello - World Heritage Site
3
Grottaglie
4
Ostuni
5
Manduria
6
Oria
7
Parco Rupestre Lama D'Antico
8
Chiesa di San Vito Martire
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Infant seats available
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Dress code is smart casual
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
- Vegetarian, vegan, pascatarian options are available, please advise at time of booking if required
- Infant are welcome and for free
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 15 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
This class was amazing! My husband and I had such a good time. Simona is a genuinely passionate person who taught us a lot about not only how to cook pasta, but the history of Puglian cuisine. We had a wonderful meal and met amazing people. We highly recommend this class!
Reviews
4.8
based on 263 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
It was great, Simona was lovely, welcomed us into her home, taught us about this history and culture of puglian food and gave us a tour of her Trullo.
Simona was so knowledgeable and passionate about Puglia /southern italys cooking. She shared her passion and enthusiasm with us all and helped us create an amazing experience /meal. So much I learnt and that I can use again when I go home! Woukd definitely recommend.
She even took time to explain the Trulli house history.
This was an amazing cooking class. It was very rustic in a traditional style home with trulli. Simona was so welcoming and generous. We learned so much during the class about the history of Italian food in Puglia and other regions. Simona is so knowledgeable! She even gave us a tour and history of the trulli home. We walked around her garden too and learned more about the herbs, fruits and nuts growing.
We made fresh pasta and learned different shapes and varieties. We also learned to make the traditional Apulgian meat roll. The food was so delicious and plentiful.
We would definitely recommend this experience to anyone who would like to learn more about Puglia and Italian food. It was simply incredible, Simona is amazing! This was a real highlight of our holiday and one of the best cooking classes we have done. Don’t forget buy Simona’s book too. It’s great reading and has great recipes too.
Get ready for an entertainig cooking class seasoned with curious stories about culinary traditions, all along side with a deep immersion into italian hospitality
I attended Le Orecchiette, che pasta with my partner on 10th June and it was just an all round fantastic experience. We arrived at the host's beautiful trullo home in the Puglian countryside and were shown through to her garden where we seated around a large shady table with 5 other guests. For the first 30 minutes we simply chatted and sipped on coffee spiced with chilli and cinnamon and snacked on homemade biscuits. Simona, the host, then gave us a highly enjoyable interactive lesson on pasta and the Italian rules around how it should be served before we proceeded to the cooking. Some of the elements of the meal were made by Simona and her assistant but most of it was done by ourselves. We learned how to make pasta of various shapes (the focus of course was on Orecchiette) and two traditional Puglian sauces whilst enjoying rose and red wine and water. In the time that things were cooking, we were also given a tour of the trullo and learned about its history. The meal itself was absolutely delicious and the atmosphere was fantastic. Simona was warm, knowledgeable and had an excellent sense of humor. The trullo was beautiful and Fig the cat was a particular highlight! Overall this was enjoyable, memorable, felt very authentic and also was excellent value for money. I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys Italian food or is interested in cooking.
Informative and very welcome by Simona. You get to have a nice afternoon surrounded by the quietness of nature.
We had a wonderful time at this pasta cooking class. Simona and Annamaria were warm, welcoming, and very informative—they made the experience fun, relaxed, and engaging. We learned a lot and truly enjoyed the evening.
For future guests, it’s helpful to know that the class takes place in Simona’s home rather than a professional kitchen. While it may not be what some expect, it offers a more authentic and personal Italian experience. We also enjoyed a tour of her trulli, which was a special touch.
The cooking and dining space accommodates a larger group (we had about 12 people) and is more rustic in nature—uneven flooring, older appliances, and a cozy, traditional setup.
Overall, if you’re looking for a genuine, home-style cooking experience with kind and engaging hosts, this is a great option.
We had such an amazing time. Simona is a wealth of knowledge. Not only were we educated about pasta but also all the different sauces in the region. We cannot say enough how we enjoyed ourselves
The cooking class was fantastic. Our instructor was very knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and fun. She welcomed us into her home and shared a great deal of information about so many topics, with us. I learned a lot and had a blast!
Simona was a charming host who introduced us to traditional Puglianova pastas and
Sauces in her trulli. We ate the pastas that we made, accompanied by some delicious sauces made by Simona.
This will be a highlight of our holiday - not to be missed!
Very enjoyable and informative. Simona is very generous with her time and knowledge. Not just cookery course! Well worth it.
If I could give Simone more than 5 stars I would. Everything was exceptional. She is so warm and inviting, and her teaching goes well beyond just how to make pasta. Please don't miss this experience.
A very relaxed evening, full of interesting cooking tips and history of Italian food and cooking. Simon was very interesting throughout. So much so we bought her book and can't wait to try the recipes.
This was such a fun, easy, authentic experience! We learned so much and loved having a long, full relaxing day enjoying Simona’s patio and taking in all the amazing smells and tastes. We accidentally took the wrong road at first, make sure your GPS does NOT take you to the left between two houses and down a gravel road. You should turn off the main road right into a nice big gated area, and shortly after that is the sign for Nord Salento Tour. We spent almost the entire class outdoors on the patio or open air kitchen, but even though it was peak August it wasn’t hot at all with the constant breeze. Our class had folks from two other countries that were fun to meet! We cooked 3 kinds of pasta recipes - plain tomato, winter recipe (anchovies + vegetables), and a bread crumb recipe (also with anchovies). We also had side snacks of coffee, wine, jam pastries, cucumbers, zucchini, a form of bruschetta (the name of which I can’t remember and Simona will be so upset I called bruschetta again lol!!), and more. We even picked fresh figs from her tree as a dessert treat at the end. I am not an adventurous eater, but I still loved the experience and tried most things! The noodle making part was my favorite, we all grabbed jars of natural coloring and made a rainbow of noodles in different shapes. Simona was very helpful with the younger ones in our group who needed assistance getting their dough the right texture, and even made sure we passed the colors around so everyone got a chance to make different kinds of noodles. In the end, all the noodles get used in the final pasta dishes. We even got to tour Simona’s own trulli home and learn the fascinating backstory with it as well. This was absolutely my favorite experience of our trip and worth every dollar and minute we spent there. We still talk about it daily now that we are home, and even used Simona’s advice during our trip when eating around Puglia. Simona spoke wonderful English and effortlessly switched between English and Italian which helped us learn and recognize words while she talked! And to top it all off, we got very neat certificates at the end. Would absolutely recommend!
Making pasta with Simona was a fun and interesting experience. Simona is a good storyteller and you got the feeling that you were invited into her home. We heard stories about Puglia, the trulli and about Italy especially about food and pasta, then we made our own orecchiette and had 3 different meals from that. Furthermore we had other local dishes and wine. We absolutely recommend an evening with Simona. Preben and Helle from Denmark
Our teacher, Simona has been amazing! Not only we learned how to make orecchiette but we also learned a lot about the culture and pasta in general. Thank you Simona and Maristella!
Everything about this experience was wonderful. Make sure you book now so you don’t miss out on this particular hostess. The food was delicious. She was really good at teaching not just to make orrechiette but a lot of different types pastas and each type of sauce was absolutely fantastic. The traditional Apulia food was magnificent And we just spent close to 5 1/2 hours at the home.
Authentic, fun, educational and time flew by. Felt very personal and was lovely to have Simone's Nonna and husband there helping out during the session, felt like a really Italian family experience wirh info being passed down through the generations.
Loved our experience. Such great food and learned so much about Puliga and their food traditions. It was a experience that lasted 4 + hours and included a property tour. Loved meeting people from other countries and our host facilitated getting to know one another. Worth every penny.
This class was amazing! My husband and I had such a good time. Simona is a genuinely passionate person who taught us a lot about not only how to cook pasta, but the history of Puglian cuisine. We had a wonderful meal and met amazing people. We highly recommend this class!
Experiencing orecchiette making with Simona, Annamaria and the class (10 of us in total) in an old Puglian trullo was simply amazing! We learned to make traditional Puglian pasta in different shapes and styles of cooking- and how they’re different from other regions in Italy. Simona & Annamaria were generous to share with us their homemade wines, self pressed olive oils, sundried tomatoes, figs, almonds, self made chilli sauce, pickled shallots etc. The class lasted for about 6 hours, everyone seemed to enjoy the experience! Highly recommended!
Beautiful location, host and delicious lunch prepared, we had such a fun time. Highly recommend this experience!
We enjoyed the whole experience, making a lovely four course meal from scratch and great hosts. Also, we really enjoyed hearing the history of the trulli.
Wonderful food, company, and atmosphere! Also, a fantastic value given the reasonable cost and the number of hours we spent there.
Very nice host, nice to meet other travellers, good tips, food and local wine. We also danced and had fun.
It was a 6 hour experiance instead of 4🤗🍷
Delightful setting.. Simona was very knowledgeable. Generous host and the meal we made was delicious. A great treat!
Simona was an amazing teacher and host! Our group learned so much about Puglia and the history of Italian pastas in this class, and we thoroughly enjoyed the day spent with Simona! Would absolutely recommend to anyone looking to learn more about the region and get an authentic glimpse into Puglia life.
Wonderful experience! Not only did Simona teach us how to make various different forms of pasta and sauce, she also explained the reason behind the different pasta shapes and their history. Whilst our pasta was cooking she showed us around her Trullo, which was very interesting. Highly recommend this course, Thank you Simona for your fabulous hospitality!!! Nicola and Andrew
This wasn’t just a orecchiette cooking class, but a Puglia experience! Simona was such a nice host and taught us a bit about the culture in south of Italy, the historical background of the Trullo houses and most importantly how to make great orecchiette. Besides that we also learned two traditional sauces that are served with the pasta. It was really one of our highlights this vacation!
Making orecchiette was very nice and Simona guided us through the whole process. Eating together and making new friendships was also one of the best parts. It felt like a true italian experience, eating on the countriside next to a trullo with typicla dishes
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