New Video of May 2022 Liguria Tour

We're back from Italy! We had an incredible time with folks on our three sold out culinary tours to Liguria, Puglia, and Tuscany... We can't say which tour we enjoyed more (it's like picking a favorite child!): each tour brought us to the most idyllic locations, where we ate at the best restaurants, learned from dedicated food artisans, and cooked delicious meals using local ingredients.

We've created a brand new video of highlights from our May 2022 Liguria tour to give you a taste of our culinary tours.

Are you ready to join us for YOUR dream vacation? We're now taking reservations for our 2023 tours to Liguria Sicily Tuscany and Puglia in the spring and fall of 2023.

New Liguria Video

Our Tours

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Our 2023 Tour Calendar is Here!

Most of our 2022 tours are sold out with a wait list (we only have very limited room on our Puglia & Beyond Tour this September). We now have 7 tours in 2023 for you to choose among.

SPRING 2023
Puglia & Beyond April 23-29, 2023
Tuscany & Beyond April 30-May 6, 2023
Liguria May 7-13, 2023
Sicily & Calabria May 17-25, 2023

FALL 2023
Tuscany & Beyond September 24-30, 2023
Sicily & Calabria October 4-12, 2023
Puglia & Beyond October 15-21, 2023

2022 AVAILABILITY:
Puglia & Beyond September 18-24, 2022 (1 room left)

Our tours in a nutshell: you'll spend the mornings cooking Italian specialties with Dino and Micol, then savor a leisurely lunch before an afternoon of sightseeing and dinner at the region's finest tables. We guarantee plenty of food, wine, laughter, amazing sites, and memories to last a lifetime!

All our tours focus on smaller destinations; we figure you can visit Florence, Rome, Venice, and Milan on your own, so we include small towns and out-of-the-way villages in our itineraries. We always seek out local food producers who work on an artisanal level, and we reserve tables at each region's most characteristic restaurants. Our daily cooking classes are all about getting involved and hands-on: we make a full menu each morning, then sit and enjoy our culinary creations with wine before heading out to discover nearby towns.

If you're ready to travel with us, we suggest you reserve soon: demand in 2023 will be high now that travel has become safe once again and restrictions have been lifted. (This year, we had to refuse dozens of clients who wanted to book our sold-out tours)

Watch a NEW video of highlights from our May 2022 Liguria tour

Click here for an overview of each tour and watch our 3-minute videos of each region to see which tour is best for you!
Tuscany Video
Sicily Video
Puglia Video
Liguria Video

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What Makes Rustico Tours Different?

Our company, RUSTICO COOKING, is small, so you can be assured that every detail of our culinary tours will be carefully planned and highly personalized. We can't compete with huge companies that offer dozens of trips annually to every corner of Italy... nor do we want to.

We would rather make every moment of every trip to Italy absolutely memorable for each participant... just read their testimonials.

We'll enlist local cooks, wine producers, cheese experts, and more to offer you a fragrant, tasty slice of Italy's regional treasures. And we'll be there every step of the way, experiencing the splendors of Italy with you.

On our tours, every meal is included, with wine at lunch and dinner. All culinary activities are included, ranging from hands-on cooking classes, olive oil tastings, wine tastings, and visits with local food producers. In other words, from the moment that you meet up with our group to the moment you leave, all of your culinary experiences are included.

An added bonus is that every tour participant will receive videos of their trip filmed by Dino; more than photographs, this memento of the tour will make you feel as though you are back in Italy!

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Client Testimonials

Here is what Carolyn C. from Somers Point, NJ, said about our June 2022 Tuscany & Beyond Tour:
I send the most grateful thank you for our recent Tuscany & Beyond Tour. Every single aspect of a successful cooking and touring experience was met with great knowledge and enthusiasm from our gracious hosts Micol and Dino. The hands on cooking classes were well organized and explained at levels for different skill sets so that no one felt left out depending on each of their abilities. From chef Micol, I learned many new ways involved in cooking Italian food which I can't wait to share with friends and family. The villa was lovely, very comfortable in an understated way, with a spectacular view! The choice of touring destinations and unique restaurants was so very well thought out and appreciated for its small villages and dining that ranged from excellent to superb! I look forward to more culinary and travel experiences with Dino and Micol as soon as possible!

And what Ed T. from Hampton Bays, NY said about our Liguria Tour:

"Just want to tell you how much Lorrie and I enjoyed our tour with you. Incredibly I had no idea what a treat you had in store for us. Lorrie and I each were delighted with you local knowledge, how well everything was organized, and your warm and loving attention to all in our group... There are many "Tours", but yours are really the way I imagine they should be. And now that we have experienced yours, we know there are none better. You impart a special and intriguing personal level to everything we experienced, bringing a delightful sense of intimacy to each event, whether it was a bus ride or cooking... You are there to arrange everything, to meet and greet and look after all the people that make the tour so interesting: the restaurants, wineries, and olive oil producers, making us all part of your extended family."

And a note from Ron & Kathryn C. in Madison, WI about our Puglia & Beyond tour:
"We are still luxuriating in the recollections of our trip. Micol, it was a fantastic trip, exceeding all of our expectations. You put so much effort into ensuring that each member of the group was comfortable and as involved as they wanted to be. We so enjoyed the hands-on experiences and personal explanations of the establishments we visited. I think that the memories of the trip will remain with each of us for a long time. Again, it was marvelous."

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