Marche Cooking Tour

Our second Cooking Tour to Matelica ran from September 24 - October 1, 2017 and was equally a success with the addition of a couple of brave men who were game to learn some Italian cooking skills as well as a little Italian language. Thanks to Tania being willing to come and teach on the fly while shopping and touring around the countryside we all got a little primer of Italian. Unfortunately the 2016 earthquake in Matelica destroyed many buildings including the language school.

We were devastated by the news and where glad none of our friends were hurt during the earthquake. Unfortunately for Matelica the town may never recover as many of the buildings in the town center had to be condemned. But life marches on and the people of Matelica welcomed us with their warmth and courtesy and made our time there happy.

Again we had our favorite driver Marco Codoni to take us around to all the sites we visited. We went to a few new places this year including an afternoon to the city of Urbino where we visited the ducal palace, shopped for treasures and had a fabulous lunch. We visited a honey producer and had a tour and tasting. We visited again the Frasassi Caves, and a wine tasting stop at the Gagliardi winery with Umberto as always fun and delicious and Braccano to see the murals. The Fioriti family were again our hosts at Hotel Fioriti in Matelica and made us all feel like we were part of the family. Manuela’s cheerful face every morning asking if we would like scrambled eggs was always appreciated. Angelo, Manuela, Dayana, and Emanuele made us feel most welcome. The classes where a hit especially the pizza class taught by Antonella’s son Diego. The food we made in the pasta shop was again donated to the local food bank and we are grateful to be a help to the community of Matelica.

Thanks to our tour members: Jackie, Dwight, Sara, Judy, and Brad! Special thanks to our support team in Matelica: Marco, Tania, Antonella, Diego, Anna and Pietro, and the Fioriti family.