Venice Cooking Class: Handmade Pasta & Focaccia with Massimo

A Venetian teaches you to cook in the kitchen where his family has cooked for generations.

A private cooking class in Venice where you learn to make handmade pasta and focaccia in a local's home, then share a meal with wine and dessert. You can add a guided tour of Rialto Market beforehand to shop for fresh ingredients with Massimo, or skip straight to the cooking lesson. The class runs 1.5 to 2 hours of hands-on instruction, and the full experience takes about four hours when the market tour is included.

Step-by-step itinerary

Venetian market tour and cooking class

• Visit Rialto Market with Massimo
• Shop fresh seasonal ingredients
• Return to Massimo's home
• Learn to make handmade pasta and focaccia
• Prepare traditional Venetian dishes
• Enjoy home-cooked meal with wine

The experience

If you have a free afternoon in Venice and want to step away from the crowds, this is how you spend it: you meet Massimo, a Venetian and merchant navy officer, either at the Rialto Market or at his home in San Marco, depending on which option you choose. If you pick the market tour, you walk through Mercato di Rialto with him first, the place where locals actually shop, and learn to spot seasonal produce from his favorite vendors. You'll buy fresh fish from a fishmonger before heading back to his home to cook. If you skip the market, you meet him directly at Campo Santa Maria Formosa and go straight to the kitchen.

Once you're in his home, the cooking starts. You'll make handmade strozzapreti pasta and rosemary focaccia with caramelized onions, learning the techniques Massimo's family has used for years. The lesson runs 1.5 to 2 hours, and you're doing the work (rolling pasta by hand, shaping dough) not watching a demonstration. He'll walk you through traditional Veneto recipes and tell you stories about Venetian food and culture as you cook. The kitchen is historical, the ingredients are seasonal, and nothing about this feels like a tourist activity.

After you finish cooking, you sit down together to eat. The meal includes what you've made (the pasta in a homemade sauce, the focaccia) plus baked scallops or prosciutto with Alpine cheeses, fresh salad, and an Italian dessert. Massimo pours prosecco and Ribolla Gialla from his family's vineyard, or red wine if you prefer. This is the part that makes it more than a class: you're eating in a home, with someone who knows Venice, not in a restaurant or a cooking school.

What’s included

• Private handmade pasta and focaccia cooking class in Massimo's home.
• hands-on instruction in making strozzapreti pasta and rosemary focaccia.
• a home-cooked meal with baked scallops or prosciutto and Alpine cheeses, fresh salad, Italian dessert.
• prosecco and Ribolla Gialla from Massimo's family vineyard or red wine.
• guided tour of Rialto Market to shop for seasonal ingredients (included only if you choose the market option at checkout).

Options for this experience

3 options

Cooking and dinner, without the market tourGuide in English, Spanish or Italian · Available from 13 Nov · 18:00Your tour includes a private Venetian cooking class and dinner with your charming host Massimo in his home. There is no market tour.

Cooking and lunch, without the market tourGuide in English, Spanish or Italian · Available from 7 Dec · 11:00Your tour includes a private Venetian cooking class and lunch with your charming host Massimo in his home. There is no market tour.

Market+cook+lunch w/ MassimoGuide in English, Spanish or Italian · Available from 7 Dec · 10:00Rialto market tour, cooking class and lunch with your charming host Massimo in his home, all part of this experience.

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 timesMonday, Thursday, Friday and SundayDepartures at 10:00, 11:00 and 18:00

Book up to1d before

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

GroupPrivate

Live guideEnglish, Spanish 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.

Prices and times updated yesterday

Good to know

Low physical effortStroller-friendlyPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by Traveling Spoon

Is this one for you?Book the Market + Cook + Lunch option if you want to shop like a local and understand where Venetian ingredients come from before you cook with them. Choose Cooking + Lunch or Cooking + Dinner if you'd rather skip the market and spend your time in the kitchen and at the table instead.

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Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in English, Spanish and Italian.

Can children come?

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

Can I do the cooking class if I have dietary restrictions or allergies?

Yes. Massimo offers vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free versions of the meal, so let him know what you need when you book and he'll adapt the recipes and ingredients.

What's the difference between the three options you can choose at checkout?

The Market + Cook + Lunch option includes a guided tour of Rialto Market to shop for ingredients before you cook and eat lunch together. The Cooking + Lunch option skips the market and goes straight to his home for the class and lunch. The Cooking + Dinner option also has no market tour but you cook and eat dinner instead. All three include the hands-on pasta and focaccia lesson and wine.

Where exactly do I meet Massimo?

If you choose the market tour, you meet him at Rialto Market. If you pick cooking without the market, you meet him at Campo Santa Maria Formosa, a square in Venice's San Marco neighborhood.

Is this class suitable for people who have never cooked before?

Yes. The class is hands-on instruction for all skill levels, and Massimo teaches you the techniques step by step. You don't need any cooking experience to join.

What wine will I drink during the meal?

Massimo serves prosecco and Ribolla Gialla from his family's vineyard, or red wine if you prefer. Both are local to the Veneto region.

How long does the whole experience take?

The cooking class itself is 1.5 to 2 hours. If you add the Rialto Market tour, the full experience is about four hours total, including the market walk, the cooking lesson, and the meal.