Cook Like a Venetian, Venice

This three-and-a-half-hour cooking class in Venice begins at the Rialto market, where the instructor leads participants through the Pescheria (fish market) and the adjacent produce stalls to select the day's ingredients. The market-to-kitchen structure is central to the Venetian cooking tradition, in which menus are dictated by seasonal availability of lagoon seafood and local produce rather than fixed recipes. Participants choose from whatever Adriatic seafood the market offers that morning, giving each class session a genuinely seasonal character.

After shopping at the Rialto, the group moves to a historic kitchen in one of the neighbourhood's residential calli — a canal-facing space in a traditional Venetian palazzo accommodating up to eight participants around a central preparation area. The cooking session covers three core Venetian dishes: risotto al nero di seppia, made with cuttlefish and its ink to produce Venice's characteristic jet-black rice; sarde in saor, sardines marinated in a sweet-sour onion sauce with pine nuts and raisins, a recipe tracing back to Venetian sailors who needed preserved food at sea; and tiramisu, said to have been invented in the Veneto, made here in the traditional way without cream substitutes.

The instructor provides full hands-on participation at each stage — knife work, market-sourced ingredient preparation, risotto technique, and the specific timing required for each dish. The session concludes with all dishes served as a full meal with Veneto wine — typically a Soave for the seafood courses and a Valpolicella or prosecco for the dessert.

All market shopping, ingredients, wine, and recipe cards are included. The class is conducted in English. A maximum of eight participants ensures everyone has counter space and individual attention. Dietary substitutions for certain seafood can be discussed at booking; vegetarians can typically be accommodated with market-dependent adjustments.