Corso Bici/Cucina/Vino: A Course Dedicated to Bicycling/Cooking/Wine

This is a school rather than a tour, so we’ll return to the castle each day to learn, cook, drink, laugh and sleep. A few days during your stay with us we’ll send the staff ahead to set up tables and chairs amongst olive trees to lunch in the countryside, the giant cauldrons of pasta water just coming to a boil as we arrive, the wine long on ice. Other days we’ll make pasta, cook, eat in the castle and then take to the bicycles to leisurely tour olive country between meals. Cycling will be between 3 and 4 hours a day, mostly flat terrain. This course was designed for ‘Sunday cyclists’ versus those that take pleasure in riding up the sides of mountains after blood transfusions. We start every morning at 10 am, and those that want more time on the bike can ride early mornings. We’ll make fresh pasta from scratch twice nearly every meal, learn all about the local wine and olive oil varietals, grill whole rabbits and chickens, stir giant cauldrons of fresh local greens and cut into gorgeous and crusty loaves of bread the size of car tires. We’ll discuss the fascinating and world-class local wine (il negroamaro, il Salice Salentino, il primitivo, la verdeca and il susumaniello), always poured with generous and ready hands. If this course sounds like a cookery course for those that love to bicycle, make and eat great local food, and learn about wine, then you’ve grasped the concept completely.