Lake Como Cooking Class with Local Market Tour & Annamaria

Make handmade pasta and regional Italian dishes in a local home on Lake Como

A private cooking class in Lierna on Lake Como where you learn to make fresh pasta, risotto, gnocchi and tiramisu from a local instructor in her home overlooking the lake. Choose to start with a guided market tour to buy seasonal ingredients, then return to cook your meal together and eat at an outdoor table with wine and dessert.

The experience

Annamaria welcomes you into her home in Lierna with homemade coffee and teaches you the fundamentals of Italian cooking hands-on. You'll learn to make fresh dough, roll out pastry by hand and with a pasta machine, and shape handmade pasta from scratch: tagliatelle, bow ties, garganelli, or pappardelle depending on what you choose. She walks you through the different types of flour, how to prepare seasonal fillings for stuffed pasta like ravioli and tortelli, and how to build dishes like risotto, gnocchi, or pizza. The menu shifts with the season, so what you make depends on what's fresh when you arrive.

If you book the market option, you'll start by strolling through a vibrant neighborhood market to pick out fresh ingredients together before heading back to her kitchen. This means your meal is built around what you've chosen yourself, not ingredients waiting at home. After the market, you return to Annamaria's place and cook the dishes you've selected. The class runs about three hours, and you finish by sitting down at an outdoor table overlooking Lake Como to eat what you've made, with local wine, dessert, and time to talk.

Annamaria can adapt the menu for vegetarian, gluten-free, and lactose-free diets if you let her know when you book. She has two dogs at home. If that's a concern, she'll keep them in another room. Groups of five or more will need to arrange their own transport from the market back to her home, since her car seats up to four.

What’s included

• Private hands-on cooking instruction with Annamaria.
• homemade coffee to start.
• fresh pasta, risotto, gnocchi or pizza made from scratch.
• tiramisu or panna cotta.
• local wine.
• homecooked Italian meal eaten together at an outdoor table with dessert and conversation. If you choose the market option, a guided tour of a neighborhood market to purchase fresh ingredients is included.

Options for this experience

3 options

Cooking class with lunchGuide in 4 languages · 10:30

Cooking class with dinnerGuide in 4 languages · 18:00

Market tour, cooking class, and lunchGuide in 4 languages · 10:00

You pick the guide language when booking.

You'll see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates and prices

Before you book

Days and timesEvery dayDepartures at 10:00, 10:30 and 18:00

Book up to2d before

AgesAdult (12 and older) · Child (5 to 11 years) · Infant (under 5): free

GroupPrivate

Live guideEnglish, Spanish, French and Italian

Meeting point and pickupNo hotel pickup: you go to the meeting point. Ends back at the starting point.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.

ConfirmationConfirmation within 48 h

Prices and times updated 3 days ago

Good to know

Stroller-friendlyPublic transport nearby

Operated by Traveling Spoon

Is this one for you?Book the market option if you want to choose your own ingredients and understand what goes into the meal before you cook it. The cooking class alone works better if you prefer to arrive and focus entirely on technique and cooking together. Either way, the class stays small and private. Just you, Annamaria, and her home kitchen, so there's room to ask questions and learn at your own pace.

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Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in English, Spanish, French and Italian.

Can children come?

Yes. Ticket types: Child (5 to 11 years); Infant (under 5): free.

What dishes do I actually learn to make in the cooking class?

You choose one menu: fresh egg pasta with tiramisu, risotto with panna cotta, pizza, or gnocchi with tiramisu. Annamaria teaches you to make the pasta or base dish from scratch, including how to roll and shape dough by hand and machine, and how to prepare fillings with seasonal ingredients. The exact menu shifts depending on what's available when you arrive.

Does the market tour mean I pick the ingredients myself?

Yes. If you book the market option, you walk through a neighborhood market with Annamaria and choose the fresh seasonal produce you want to use in your cooking class. You then bring those ingredients back to her home and cook with them.

What happens after we finish cooking?

You sit down together at an outdoor dining table overlooking Lake Como and eat the meal you've made, with local wine, dessert, and conversation included.

Can Annamaria accommodate dietary restrictions?

Yes. She can adapt the menu for vegetarian, gluten-free, and lactose-free diets if you tell her when you book. Let her know your needs at checkout so she can plan accordingly.

Where exactly does the class take place?

Annamaria's home is in Lierna, a village on Lake Como. The class happens in her kitchen and you eat at her outdoor dining table with views of the lake.