One of the most fun and enjoyable things my husband and I did while on one of our tours of Italy was a pasta making class with Wilma in "Pasta Fresca" pasta shop in Tavarnelle Val di Pesa.

Tuscany is such a beautiful region with stunning vistas and amazing cuisine! It's one of our favorite places to visit. 

Beautiful views while driving through Tuscany

Several years ago we went to the Chianti region of Tuscany and stayed in Torre di Ponzano. This B&B not only has comfortable rooms and a pool for a refreshing dip on a hot day but also incredible views from it's property.

While staying in Torre di Ponzano our hosts suggested that we take a private cooking class with Wilma from the pasta shop "Pasta Fresca" in nearby Tavarnelle Val di Pesa. Even though we weren't planning on taking any cooking classes we jumped at the opportunity and were so glad we did!

"Pasta Fresca" is a small pasta shop that sells various fresh and dry pastas as well as assortment of pasta sauces including our favorite with truffles. We had our pasta making class in the back room of the shop.

During the 3 hour class our lovely teacher Wilma showed us how to make a whole range of pasta shapes from scratch.

We had such a great time during our class!

Wilma also prepared three basic sauces for us: pesto for linguine, red tomato sauce for spaghetti and sage and butter for spinach and ricotta ravioli.

After class we got to enjoy fruits of our and Wilma's labor at a small table that was nicely set for us in the shop. Both pasta dishes were mouthwatering and flavorful! Simple yet so delicious sage in butter sauce for spinach and ricotta ravioli was just tremendous! We tried to recreate this sauce at home but it didn't come out nearly as intense in flavor like it was in Italy. Maybe they just have much more flavorful sage there.  : )

We got to enjoy the leftovers from our class next day as well. This time we had dinner al fresco in our B&B while watching the sunset and enjoying some local wine.

Here is my oil painting “Swimming View With View” inspired by my travels in Italy.

Please check out my paintings on my website. Thank you!