Get ready for an immersive, hands-on experience in one of Italy’s most beautiful coastal towns, Tropea!
Under the warm guidance of a local nonna, you’ll roll up your sleeves and learn to cook traditional Calabrian dishes using fresh, local ingredients. As you master recipes passed down through generations, you’ll also enjoy interactive Italian language lessons, tailored for all levels, that make it easy to chat with the locals and dive into village life.
Outside the kitchen, you’ll explore Tropea’s markets, historic landmarks, and stunning cliffs that drop into the turquoise-colored sea.
This experience is all about real connections, local flavors, and creating unforgettable memories rooted in Calabria’s rich traditions of language and food.
E Ni Scialamu – we’re gonna have fun!
Accommodations and Transportation:
Meals:
Group Excursions and Experiences:
Benvenuti a Tropea!
You will arrive in Lamezia Terme and be met by your driver who will transfer to your four-star hotel in the center of Tropea. You’ll have time to settle in and rest.
This evening, you will meet your Italian teacher and travel host for a welcome dinner alla Calabrese, complete with free-flowing wine and an impromptu Italian lesson.
Cin Cin!
Flavors of Tropea
This morning you will dive into typical Calabrian cuisine with its rich and flavorful pasta dishes. Assisted by an experienced culinary nonna and your Italian language teacher, you will prepare two different types of homemade pasta and two typical accompanying sauces.
All recipes are taken from tradition with fresh and genuine dishes and organic products. At the end of the preparation, you will eat what you have prepared in a convivial and cheerful atmosphere.
You’ll have the afternoon on your own to enjoy the local shops, the beach, or practice your budding Italian in person with locals. Evening on your own. Overnight Tropea.
A Hands-On Language Experience
This morning you’ll hit the street with your bilingual Italian teacher and visit vendors, speak with shopkeepers (in Italiano, of course), and interact with locals during your interactive Italian lesson.
You’ll have a light lunch, followed by free time in town.
In the evening you’ll reconvene with your teacher for a “farewell” aperitivo.
A Farewell Moment Before Departure
This morning you’ll have one last chance to practice your enhanced skills by skipping breakfast at the hotel and joining your teacher in the piazza.
You’ll meet at his favorite bar, where you’ll learn the intricacies of ordering coffee in Italy and you’ll savor one final caffe’ before departing Tropea with your driver for Lamezia Terme.
Ciao Tropea!
We love private tours and can often include extra fun elements that aren’t available to individual travelers. If you’d like a bilingual escort or driver, just let us know. We’ll be happy to plan your custom vacation accordingly.
This is a great question because there is sometimes overlap amongst the three which leads to confusion. To keep it quick though, a travel consultant is a local expert, meaning she only focuses on a specific part of the world, in some cases one country, in other cases (like mine) part of one country. This person usually lives (or has lived for an extended amount of time) in the place she consults on and has an intimate knowledge of the area.
A travel agent is similar in that she helps her clients put their trips together. A travel agent can specialize in a country but oftentimes hasn’t lived there and/or may not have traveled to all of the places her clients are going. A travel agent can search for and book flights and cruises that travel consultants can’t or choose not to book.
I often work with travel agents who want to ensure they are offering the best service to their clients. The travel agent will contact me and together we’ll put the Calabria/southern Italy section of their client’s vacation together.
A tour operator packages trip elements into travel packages that they either sell directly or through travel agents. Some travel consultants (like me) are registered as a tour operator for legal business purposes.
When you book a custom vacation, there is more going into your trip than simply recommending a hotel or a cooking class. I am invested in my clients’ trips and I work with them to choose the right base locations, to map out their ideal route and to ensure the hotels, guides, excursions and activities are right for them.
It’s been estimated the average person spends 100 hours researching, planning and booking a vacation. My clients either don’t have this kind of time to devote to planning their trip or they want to ensure they are making the right decisions for their vacation.
Besides the fact that I’m being paid by my clients to plan their trips, I choose not to accept commissions from hotels, car companies, chefs or other vendors because I don’t like the potential conflict of interest. If I don’t accept commission from anyone, then my clients know I always have their best interest in mind.
I don’t – but I can either coordinate with your travel agent, recommend an agent to you for group travel or tell you about the airlines I personally choose when I’m traveling.
