Italian cooking classes, olive tours, wine tours and culinary holidays since 2006.
Guido and Sally have been sharing their passion for gourmet Italian food by organising Italian cooking courses and holidays in Rome and Maremma in Tuscany, before moving to the beautiful region of Sabina. Guido’s enthusiasm for promoting Italian regional cuisine has also lead him to conduct cooking workshops in Cambridge, England and Sydney, Australia.
"We had such a lovely time in the Sabina area with Guido and Sally! They were warm and welcoming, and we really enjoyed learning how to cook authentic Italian dishes. They made the experience personal and special. They provided easy-to-follow train directions and took care of pickup and drop-off, making everything smooth and stress-free. Their newly renovated kitchen has a gorgeous view—and their sweet pup Rocky was the cherry on top!"
Sunset from Sally and Guido’s home.
Winner of Luxury Travel Guide Award 'Cooking Holiday Operator Of The Year - Italy’
From Luxury Travel Guide: "The Luxury Travel Guide Awards champion the very best in their respective fields; therefore to come out on top is truly an achievement you should be proud of. We are delighted to pay tribute to and commend all those who have excelled in the industry. This year has seen an unprecedented number of shortlisted companies, providing strong competition in every category."
We share the Slow Food philosophy: supporting local farmers and reduce our carbon footprint.
Convivio Rome Italian Cooking Classes and Holidays share the Slow Food movement philosophy on local farming, quality food and bio-diversity. We support our local farmers and food producers and we do this to source the freshest, highest quality seasonal ingredients and olive oil for our Italian cookery classes. This also helps keep our Italian cooking school's carbon footprint to a minimum.
Sustainable, responsible cooking holidays and tours - supporting local small businesses.
We believe in the importance of our local community and not only support local small businesses and cultural events, but also involve as many local residents as we can in our Convivio Rome Italian Cooking Holiday activities. In a world where there are large commercial shopping centres and many people shop online, small businesses are often forgotten. We also whole heartly support local small businesses to ensure their high quality items continue to be made and that they survive. We promote a form of environmentally sustainable and socially responsible culinary tourism, by only bringing small numbers of people at one time to experience the natural and very unspoilt beauty of our region, Sabina.
Sally, originally from Australia, first moved to Italy over 20 years ago. She soon became captivated by the warmth of the people, the beauty of the landscape, the culture and history, plus the amazing food and wine. 'Amore' when Sally met Guido, led her to stay. They now live with their daughter, in the Sabine Hills (Sabina), just north of Rome. “This is a very special area of Italy not only because of its rough natural beauty and magnificent views but for me it is truly authentic. There is nothing commercial, no neon signs, no foreign newspapers and definitely no tourist buses. It is not uncommon for our neighbours to knock on our door offering us a paper bag filled with fruit or vegetables that have just been picked from their fields”.
Sally's background is in social anthropology, natural therapies, teaching and tourism and she has been running her own business in Australia and Italy for over 25 years. Sally founded 'Convivio Rome' with Guido to enable them to share the magic of Italy, Sabina and its fantastic food and wine.
Guido is an 8th generation Roman with a passion for cooking. “Every evening, I prepare food for my wife and daughter that has come from my grandmother’s family”, says Guido. “The secrets of these recipes have been passed down from my grandmother to my mother and now onto me. I want to share this love and passion that my family has always had for good food and wine with you. When I was young, my father used to take me around the Roman countryside on weekend excursions to locate the finest cheeses and wines. Baskets of fresh ricotta were prepared in front of us by the local shepherd and loaves of wood-fired sour dough bread were bought hot from the bakery. It was an incredible education. I still remember learning to recognise the different scents of wild herbs during our leisurely walks through the fields. To me, rosemary, sage, fennel and roman mint are the distinctive scents of the Roman countryside, especially when the sun comes out after a summer storm”.
Guido has been a food editor for many years, during which he had the chance to meet the most celebrated Italian chefs and learn their secrets. He is fully bilingual and has previously been running cooking classes in Italy (Tuscany), England (Cambridge) and Australia (Sydney). He’s also passionate about foraging wild herbs and vegetables and would like to share his knowledge with you.
At Convivio Rome, Guido is in charge of our cooking classes, olive oil tours and wine-tasting sessions, with an emphasis on the freshest food available in season, the balance of flavours and ease of preparation. His classes are relaxed, fun and creative. In fact, Guido believes that inspired cooking always comes from a little bit of fun.
Rocky is Convivio Rome’s mascot and part of our welcome team. He will greet you with a wag of his tail and his favourite toy in his mouth, when you come to our family home. Rocky is a small 10 year old dog who has been with us since he was a puppy. He has greeted hundreds of guests from all over the world and he will be looking forward to meeting you.
"Dear Sally & Guido, I know it seems a long time since we came to learn how to 'cook Italian', but I did want to let you know how much we enjoyed our time with you. We so appreciated your thoughtfulness and attention to our every need, and it was this welcoming feeling which made our time with you so very special. You are exceptional hosts."
We buy fruit and vegetables for our Italian cooking holidays, short break vacations, our Italian cookery classes and day tours from local farmers we personally know. All this food is local, in season, and have just been picked from the fields we can see in the valley. We also run a vegetable garden and grow our own herbs to be used during our cooking classes together. When staying for our 4 Day and 5 Day Italian Cooking Holidays, your evenings at the local family restaurant will be a time to not only enjoy the wonderful food and wine, and the waiters good sense of humour, but you also be treated like 'long lost friends’.
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