Cooking Class in Ortigia

Meet your guide, a professional chef, in central Ortigia in time for late morning departure. After discussing the day’s menu, set off to the Ortigia Market to shop for fresh ingredients.

Enjoy a glimpse of typical Italian life as you explore the bustling marketplace and browse the colorful stalls. Listen as your guide explains the seasonal produce, herbs and spices on sale and help select the meat, vegetables, and herbs that you’ll use in your cooking class.

Next, head to your cooking space for the day and set to work creating traditional Sicilian dishes such as eggplant meatballs, spaghetti with zucchini and mint, or tuna with caramelized onions. Finally, sit down in the dining area to enjoy your home-cooked feast, accompanied by a selection of Italian wines.

Your tour ends after lunch and you’ll be given the recipes to take home with you.

• Meet your guide, a professional chef, in central Ortigia in time for late morning departure. After discussing the day’s menu, set off to the Ortigia Market to shop for fresh ingredients. Enjoy a glimpse of typical Italian life as you explore the bustling marketplace and browse the colorful stalls. Listen as your guide explains the seasonal produce, herbs and spices on sale and help select the meat, vegetables, and herbs that you’ll use in your cooking class. Next, head to your cooking space for the day and set to work creating traditional Sicilian dishes such as eggplant meatballs, spaghetti with zucchini and mint, or tuna with caramelized onions. Finally, sit down in the dining area to enjoy your home-cooked feast, accompanied by a selection of Italian wines. Your tour ends after lunch and you’ll be given the recipes to take home with you.

There is plenty for tourists to take in at the Ortigia market in Syracuse, Sicily: the distinctly southern Italian hum of the crowd; spices and vegetables so diverse they could color a rainbow and the calm blue sea in the distance. But just wandering around this site, where Archimedes is said to have once helped the Greeks fight the Romans, and buying a few peaches is not the sort of authentic culinary experience that many visitors seek. That is where chef Lele steps in. He leads gastronomy-focused travelers around to teach them how to shop and then prepare delicious Sicilian food.

The ingredients you buy, will be brought back to the kitchen to cook your meal. The menu varies according to seasonal products, here is an example: Sicilian eggplant meatballs, spaghetti with zucchini and mint, tuna with caramelized onions (an old Sicilian recipe), and spinach.

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Infants must sit on laps
Infant seats available
Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 12 travelers