Fantastic! Thank you Barbara and Stefano! - Barbara and Stefano opened up their home to my wife and I; we couldn't have had a better experience. They were both not only phenomenal chefs and teachers, but they were both warm and extremely enjoyable to talk to. We're grateful that we got the chance to meet them and learn from their Italian cooking expertise. The recipes we cooked were Barbara's family recipes and they were incredible. We would recommend anybody to take this class and would absolutely go back. Thank you again Barbara and Stefano for an amazing day!

Giulia was a wonderful host. - Olta Giulia Was a wonderful host. We learned how to make pasta and she was patient and helpful. The tiramisu we made was excellent. I would recommend Giulia over and over. It was a great experience.

Our Nonna for the day - Exceptional, in every way. How to describe a breathtaking location/home; welcoming hosts allowing us into their personal space; paid for 3 hours, got 4; allowed us to tour their small farm, then there was the cooking lessons! My wife and I now have an instruction manual and recipe book (we took notes) that will become a family heirloom. The best experience of our 10 day Italian trip. Ginny and Scott Kappler, USA

AMAZING TIME! - We had an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING time with Barbara and her husband. The class is held at her house which has a beautiful view of the Riomaggiore and the water for sunset. She has a beautiful kitchen to host! We enjoyed making bruschetta, multiple different sauces, tiramisu, and pasta. Barbara teaches family recipes and clearly has an incredible talent and knowledge base for teaching the course. We learned a tremendous amount, picked fresh ingredients straight from her home garden, enjoyed fantastic food and wine, watched a beautiful sunset, and had a wonderful time getting to know the group over dinner! I would recommend this experience to anyone!

Fun cooking class! - Julia was the best instructor! Very well organized class! Everyone made pasta and then we made tiramisu as a group. She then prepared the pasta and it was delicious! Apertivo and wine included. Julia was very easy to talk to and it was fun to talk to her and hear about life in Italy. Totally recommend this class!

Would cook with Barbara over and over again! - Can’t recommend this experience enough. Barbara is such great fun, warm, and a wonderful teacher & home cook. The class is what you make it - Barbara is happy to answer any question and share her family’s delicious recipes. It was truly a memorable night. In short, I’d happily forget how to cook pasta, just to take this class again. Thanks for welcoming us into your home!

Perfect way to end an amazing trip! - What an amazing experience! We had a group of 8 which was her biggest group and we had a blast. We made ravioli with spinach and ricotta filling which Giulia served two ways and we then made tagliatelle with the left over pieces, and Giulia turned this into an amazing pesto dish. We also made tiramisu and we all took turns mixing etc. We then sat down as a big family chatting, telling life stories and drinking wine into the night. What a perfect way to end an amazing trip and Giulia made us feel so welcome. If you want to share a great experience with some new people, then definitely do this. Giulia you’re amazing and thank you again for having us. Ciao!

Authentic Italian cooking in a home setting! - Giulia’s cooking class was the best, most authentic cooking class we’ve ever taken. In a small apartment setting she teaches you how to make pasta and tiramisu. And after it’s all complete you gather like a family sharing stories and eating the most delicious meal! Cannot wait to share this experience at home with my family! 100% sign up with Giulia!

Not quite as expected - good, but rushed. - The original Viator advert sounded perfect – pasta making, including gnocchi was exactly what I was looking for. The communication prior to the day was great. All the communication showed a meeting place and we planned around that. One the day, when we arrived at Riomaggiore, we called Barbera and were then told not to go to the meeting point, but to climb some steep old rickety stairs. We had not expected this, and it was a steep climb. This wasn’t a great start to the evening. The course had no structure. She asked us what we wanted to make (two sauces, or two pasta) and when I asked if we could make gnocchi, it felt like I had put her out. There was a tremendous amount of acting between Barbera and Stefano, her husband, which was funny to start, but got stale. There were no drinks provided until the starter that Stefano had been working on in isolation was served (delicious bruschetta). I had asked if wine would be provided and was told it would be throughout. I would have brought my own if I had known. Barbera did a lot of talking and preparation at the start – most of it was for the tiramisu, or for a dish she was making for a course the next day. When we finally go round to making the linguini, it was a bit chaotic and not a lot was made. The gnocchi making was more structured and was good! When we finally sat down to eat, it was so rushed we could hardly eat the food. It really felt like we were being ushered out. We met another couple a few days later at one of the stations and happened to find out they had been on the same course the day after us – their experience was the same… chaotic cooking, and then being rushed through the eating. My advice to Barbera and Stefano: - Be more explicit about the menu - Be very explicit about the location - Control the class and make it more interactive - Provide drinks - Make sure you finish everything with time to allow people to eat and enjoy it

Disappointing - I booked 3 excursions (Airbnb experience, get your guide, viator) and only had difficulty with viator. I read past reviews about the RIOMAGGIORE small group cooking class - others had trouble finding it and one missed the class completely. This should’ve been a red flag however I thought 2 hours would be plenty of time to locate this class. The day before viator emailed links however it was an orange alert in cinque terre so I had poor WiFi. I typed the generic address and we climbed up a mountain and got lost. I emailed viator and called the class teacher but it went to voicemail. Later that night, I checked WhatsApp and the cooking teacher had sent 4 texts the day before. I NEVER check WhatsApp. I immediately messaged her to apologize and explained what happened. It looked like she was going to respond then she deleted the conversation thread. I should’ve asked if we could do the class the next day or she could’ve offered too. Losing $810 on an excursion is a big lesson learned!! Especially since this was my first time using viator. I had NO idea the cooking teacher would contact me through WhatsApp as other excursion companies always directly emailed & texted my phone.