LUXURY GASTRO ITALIAN COOKERY COURSES WITH PASSION IN PIEMONTE
AN AUTHENTIC ITALIAN COOKERY EXPERIENCE
We call our Italian cookery courses, experiences, because that’s exactly what they are, a chance for you to improve your Italian cooking skills guided by fantastic chefs.
Visit vibrant local markets where you can choose from some of the world’s best ingredients for your dishes, many of which you probably won’t ever have smelt or tasted before.
Discover delicious new wines – Monferrato’s famous for wines like Barolo and Gavi, but there many others that are ‘secrets’ of the region.
Get to meet the producers of some of the most fabulous produce around and taste what they have to offer.
Enjoy candle-lit dinners in good company on our sun-soaked terrace at the end of the day.
“PIEMONTE IS THE SECRET DESTINATION YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT”
(Lee Marshall – Conde Nast ‘Traveller’ magazine)
8, 5 & 3 DAY ITALIAN COOKERY EXPERIENCES
The Montalero 8 Day
Italian Cookery Course
8 day, 7 night cooking courses are €4,350 per person, single occupancy, or €4,150 per person, double occupancy, excluding flights. All local taxes are included.
7 nights luxury accommodation with chambermaid service each morning, except Sundays.
The Montalero 5 Day
Italian Cookery Course
5 day, 4 night cooking courses are €2,575 per person, single occupancy, or €2,425 per person double occupancy, excluding flights. All local taxes are included.
4 nights luxury accommodation with chambermaid service each morning, except Sundays.
Incredible Experience
I spent the most incredible 5 days at the Castello this spring and have since raved about it to anyone/everyone who will listen. Truly, this is a one-of-a-kind experience with such incredible hospitality, food, culture, learning, and more. I hope to return again, and bring friends + family!
(ajacobsmeyer, April 2025)
Can’t Wait to Return
I went to Montalero with a group of friends, including one who had been before, so expectations were high, and the experience far exceeded them! The setting, the hospitality, and the classes were all fantastic. If I could have extended my time there I would have, and I am already thinking about when I can go back!
(Lois C, Nov 2025)
Great hosts
This was an amazing experience. Wonderful learning baking and cooking with Giuseppe and other great chefs. The castle is comfortable and full of warmth. The hosts are like your extended family that you want to spend time with. Besides the cooking courses you get to visit goat farms and farmers markets. We can’t wait to visit again.
(Brian H, Dec 2025)
Italian Location
Our Chefs
Meet Our Chefs!
Beppe prepares ‘Big’ traditional Piemontese flavours, whereas Marco is more adventurous in his approach, producing some amazing, more delicate combinations.
Valeria is a specialist vegetarian chef with an extensive repertoire of classic and newly introduced vegetarian recipes.
Carla is a local pastry, bread and pizza specialist chef with amazing pizza and focaccia recipes!
Cristiano is new to the team this year. He is an experienced private chef from Milano, with a thouroughly modern approach to Italian cooking!
Latest News
Montalero Bake Off Courses with Giuseppe dell’Anno
Come and join ‘Great British Bake Off’ winner, Giuseppe dell’Anno, for an exciting week of Italian baking!
The exciting news is that we are holding a Montalero Christmas Bake Off course in December 2027, in addition to the 2027 Summer Bake Off course!
The Christmas courses include sessions on making Panettone, notoriously difficult to master, but Giuseppe will be on hand to guide you through to successful Panettone making! You will take home several small Panettone to give as Christmas gifts to family and friends!
Places for the 2026 Montalero Summer and Christmas Bake Off courses are now fully booked.
There are still several places available for the 2027 Montalero Summer and Christmas Bake Off courses.
“ITALIANS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT THEIR ‘SECRET TUSCANY”
(Kate Wickers – Daily Telegraph)
Perfect for Italian food fans
If you love Italy and Italian food, if you want a ‘behind the scenes look’ at this wonderful country… and if you’re searching for a fun, relaxing, fabulous holiday in the sun, then our food and wine experiences are for you.
Learn to cook the Monferrato way
We want you to really experience cooking the Italian way, so you’ll be guided by highly experienced chefs who specialise in Monferrato cuisine and who will teach you to cook fantastic regional dishes like these.
Beautiful accommodation
Cookery vacation accommodation at the historic Castello di Montalero. Come and stay with us for a unique Italian vacation in our beautiful grounds with sumptuous, yet relaxed rooms throughout and a very large pool to relax by.
ITALIAN COOKERY COURSES MEMORIES THAT LAST A LIFETIME
“PIEMONTE – THE HIDDEN DIAMOND OF ITALIAN CUISINE”
(Kaarina Watkins)
CASTELLO DI MONTALERO
During your vacation, you will stay at the historic Castello di Montalero, in the heart of the Monferrato region in Piemonte. Castello di Montalero is a beautiful building with much history going back to the 11th century, although the present building was constructed on the old castle foundations around 1700.
The castello was originally built for the Marquis di Casale, Teodore II Paleologo in 1188 whose family ruled the fiefdom of, what was then Mons Laurus, becoming Montalerius and nowadays Montalero, until 1634. Through marriage, the castello and its estate passed through the Mazzetti family who, in 1656, successfully defended the castello from an attack by troops of the Duke of Modena, in the pay of the French, during many local feuds and minor wars of that period.
“PIEDMONT: THE ‘NEW TUSCANY’ FOR LOVERS OF FOOD AND WINE”
(Ellen Connolly – Traveller.com.au)
