I had the most wonderful day with Catia! While I was solo traveling, there was also a couple in our group and she made all of us feel at home during our experience.

We started with a tour of the Padova city center area at 5, seeing markets and public squares that date back hundreds of years, even to medieval times. We also stopped for coffee at a great local spot that Catia loves. You will learn a lot about the history of the city and how that reflects in today’s use of the buildings.

We were then driven out to Catia’s home which probably took about 10 minutes to get to outside the city center. She has a beautiful home with her own paintings all over the walls, a backyard patio area, and an incredible garden out back with all sorts of vegetables.

The food we ate included a variety of ciccheti (small plate appetizer like foods on pieces of bread/toast), pasta with tomatoes/basil, and tiramisu. I think the tiramisu was my favorite, which I would love to make again back home in the United States (you can take a picture of her mother’s recipe we used). Catia also served a great local natural red wine which was so good.

Most of the food/spices we ate literally came from her own garden which was AMAZING. Her husband came in from the garden at one point with fresh zucchini, so she took the flowers off the zucchini and made us fried zucchini flowers as a special topping for our pasta!

I made the trip out to Padova from Venice/Mestre where I was staying, and the trip via train was not bad at all. Note that you will be getting home late, as we did not leave her home till after 10 PM. Would HIGHLY recommend! Catia is lovely to spend time with for the night with so much to say about her home region, cooking, and life in general. This experience is an incredible value that will always be one of my favorite experiences from Italy.

We had a blast, had no trouble connecting with Catia, who made our afternoon together really special with her compassion and amazing insights.

Ich hatte das Vergnügen, einen authentischen italienischen Kochkurs mit Catia zu erleben. Ihr Zuhause ist nicht nur wunderschön, sondern strahlt auch die Wärme und Gastfreundschaft aus, die einen sofort wie zu Hause fühlen lassen. Catia teilt nicht nur ihre Leidenschaft für die venezianische Küche, sondern auch ihre Geheimnisse und Tricks, um die perfekte Pasta zuzubereiten und eine köstliche Füllung herzustellen. Die kleinen Appetizer, die sie darüberhinaus noch vorbereitet hat, sind allein schon ein kulinarisches Erlebnis für sich.

Jedes Gericht, das wir zubereitet haben, war typisch für die Region und mit so viel Liebe und Hingabe gemacht, dass man die italienische Seele förmlich spüren konnte. Wer das echte kulinarische Venezien erleben möchten, dem kann ich einen Aufenthalt bei Catia nur wärmstens empfehlen.

Dejlig oplevelse. Vi var en familie med to voksne børn, der alle blev mætte på oplevelser, viden og skøn mad! Vi skal helt sikkert prøve at lave pasta selv. Vi mødte stor venlighed - en virkelig særlig oplevelse, der berigede vores ferie. Tak til Catia for hendes entusiasme og venlighed!