La Cucina del Sole

La Cucina del Sole

The School
Italian cooking school "La Cucina del Sole" in Amsterdam organizes cooking holidays in Tuscany twice a year. The cooking lessons are given in English and Dutch by Nicoletta Tavella, chef cook and owner of Italian cooking school La Cucina del Sole in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Nicoletta was born and raised in Italy and teaches Italian cooking since 2001. She published her first cookbook "Antipasti" (in Dutch) in 2006. Before becoming a cooking teacher she has been a professional interpreter and translator for 15 years.



La Cucina del Sole

The Classes

One-week culinary holidays in Tuscany including five hands-on cooking lessons, market visits plus food and wine-oriented excursions (April 13-20 and Sept .28 to Oct. 5, 2008).

We cook at agriturismo "Il Cantastorie" next to Montecatini Terme in the Pistoia province, a lovely resort (for photos of the apartments take a look at this link) with a breathtaking view on the beautiful green valley with lots of olive trees, charming and peaceful surroundings and a fantastic, brand new professional kitchen where every evening we will prepare a complete meal with dishes from different Italian regions. Tuscany included, of course!

During each one of the hands-on cooking lessons we will prepare a complete four-course meal and then eat together at a nicely set table. We will explore the dishes typical of the rich Tuscan tradition and that of other Italian regions and drink wines that go perfectly well with what we cook. We can choose between the Roman, Tuscan, Milanese, Piemontese, Neapolitan and Sicilian cuisine, or pick several other Italian regions. We could also dedicate a lesson to the yummiest antipasti (the rich starters and nibbles, the "Italian tapas"), to other interesting dishes from the Ancient Roman cuisine or from the Italian Renaissance and of course to the fresh pastas that make the Italian cuisine so famous: ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach, tagliatelle, spaghetti alla chitarra and maltagliati, all of them with their own specific sauces that will make our cooking experience complete. For our cooking lessons we always use seasonal ingredients of the very best quality.

To Contact


For info and for booking these 2008 cooking holidays please call Cristina Demagistris and Michael v.d. Heuvel at "Il Cantastorie", tel. 00 39 0572 67 44 96 or send an e-mail to
Cristina and Michael speak English, Dutch, Italian, French and Spanish fluently.
For more information: http://www.cucinadelsole.nl/