The Awaiting Table – Inspirational Cooking Courses in ItalyIf you’re looking for immersive week-long cooking courses in Italy, Silvestro Silvestori’s The Awaiting Table cooking school in Lecce, Puglia, is a wonderfully charismatic choice. Voted one of the best cooking schools in Italy by Food and Wine Magazine and the representative of Puglia at the prestigious La Dolce Vita in London, this intimate cooking school is located in what is arguably the most beautiful town in the entire south of Italy – Lecce in Puglia. "We specialize in small, intimate hands-on classes based on personalized instruction and individual attention” – Silvestro Silvestori.
Where do classes take place?Most of Silvestro's Italian cooking classes take place at his charming facility in Lecce, in small classes of just 6 students or less.
A few times a year, The Awaiting Table also offers extra-special courses, held at a wonderful Mediterranean Castle. Loaned to Silvestro’s school by a friend, this amazingly aristocratic location is just a few kilometers from the sparkling Adriatic Sea. These castle courses accommodate up to 24 students at a time. In 2010 for example, Silvestro and his team are holding two special events at the castle – his school’s annual Birthday Party and a unique olive oil course (see below).
Who teaches the classes? With multiple degrees in humanities-related disciplines from universities in Italy and the US, Silvestro has worked in a myriad of food-related roles; as baker, butcher, a wine merchant, a wedding cake decorator and a waiter in over thirty different restaurants. In addition to running his popular cooking courses in Italy, he also continues to work from time to time in small-scale agricultural food production and has participated in the wine-making processes of four different nations. So the man knows his stuff! In addition, Silvestro has taught photography (most of the photographs here and on his website are his own), as well as both Italian and English grammar.
What types of dish and cooking techniques are covered?The Awaiting Table’s cooking courses in Italy are about much more than simply following instructions and creating set dishes.
His Italian cooking classes are designed to both improve your skills and help you delve ever deeper into Italian culture. So rather than spending every minute in the kitchen, you’ll get out and about; getting to know the locals by their first names, talking first-hand with butchers at the market, and with winemakers, fishmongers and proud farmers (so local that they still have soil under their fingernails!). Then and only then will you finally return to the school for some joyous hands-on communal cooking. Silvestro will teach you how to make perfect pasta and how to sauce it properly, how to make fresh sausages, bake beautiful biscotti, grill perfect seafood and more - all from scratch and using 100% fresh ingredients. You’ll add herbs from the school's own herb garden and learn how to pair your culinary creations with local wines from nearby Salento, which are amongst Italy's best thanks to their dry yet fruity taste.
When do classes take place?Silvestro’s single-day and week-long Italian cooking courses run throughout the year.Single-day courses Designed for travelers who are already in Lecce or the region of Puglia, single day classes are available strictly upon request, providing no other classes are already scheduled. Classes require at least 4 students and include coffee, trips to multiple markets, lunch, dinner, and all wines and hand-made liqueurs. They do not include transportation or lodgings. One-week courses
Silvestro explains: “Our typical week always changes, whether it's field trips to wine cellars, olive mills or local, dinky food festivals. Maybe it's a street concert, a local folk dance for ten-year olds, or the mayor showing up to give a speech. Often we spend an afternoon in the countryside, at a friend's, or grilling under the stars. No two weeks are ever the same, as they reflect the season you choose to visit.” By day two, you’re likely to have garlic under your fingernails, semolina flour hand-prints on your apron, and your face may hurt from laughing so hard. By day three, you’ll be using your fledgling Italian to shoot the breeze with Simone the vegetable guy and getting sticky-fingered making jam with Sergio. By the fourth day your orecchiette will suddenly stop looking like mangled rowing boats, while by day five you will probably stop feeling the need to slavishly follow recipes. Instead you'll be on your way to cooking in a new way, paying more attention when you eat and enjoying what you're eating more because you cooked it. Extra-special courses: Silvestro also offers an annual week-long olive oil appreciation course called ‘The Cook, Contadino, and the Extra Virgin’, in addition to another one-week Wine School. Learn more about all these courses at The Awaiting Table or head straight for the course calendar here. You can also read Silvestro’s food blog.
Return from Cooking Courses Italy to Italian Cooking Schools New! CommentsHave your say about this page! Just add a comment in the box below. |
Where is Lecce? First imagine the Italian boot. The sensuous baroque city of Lecce is in its stiletto heel, a long strip of fertile land lapped by two blue coasts. 
As Silvestro puts it, “you'll learn to go deeper, gain context and learn to see the ongoing local dialogues between art and food, history and language, religion and place”.
Unlike some cooking courses in Italy, there’s no such thing as a ‘standard’ one-week cooking course at The Awaiting table. Instead the ingredients, dishes and activities change with the seasons. 