MaMa Florence

MaMa Florence is a new cooking school in Florence. It is a space created to offer cooking classes to people of all levels of cooking skill and to enable them to explore food, nutrition, ingredients, techniques and tastes in a convivial and warm environment in the heart of Tuscany.

MaMa Florence is the new venture of Le Baccanti Tours, a travel agency specialized in Italian gourmet food and wine that began in London in the late 90s and has been operating in Chianti since 2004. Filippo Bartolotta and Vanessa Held are the creators of Le Baccanti Tours and MaMa Florence. Filippo is an Italian wine and food journalist that started his career in London, Vanessa is an American entrepreneur and manager made-in-Tuscany. Their tour agency is extremely successful and recommended by BBC Travel, The Independent, Le Mond, The Telegraph, Traveller, The New York Times and has organized events with international chefs around the world from the Metropolitan Museum in NYC the the National Gallery in London to the French Parlament to the White House in Washington D.C.

After more than a decade of working in enogastronomic tourism and event planning, Vanessa and Filippo wanted to create a Tuscan home/kitchen that would function not only as a cooking and wine school but as a warm and inviting venue for events and team building activities. Clients as diverse as families from Melbourne, VIPs from Los Angeles, wine lovers from Hong Kong to Business associates from London can appreciate the beauty and simplicity of this concept and welcoming feeling created by this beautiful, well thought out space and bilingual staff. To welcome them, not only the staff of MaMa Florence and Le Baccanti Tours, but also the Italian cooks, chefs, food experts, wine experts and gourmet food and wine producers ready to share their expertise and passion.

MaMaFlorence is FEMALE

MaMa is a mother, the central figure that from the dawn of time has passed down from generation to generation the culinary culture of her country or region. Because of this MaMa is female, a place where grandstanding and posturing have no place but instead culture, knowledge and sharing of ideas take center stage. The art of cooking is a female art that speaks of daily life and goodness that embraces tradition without forgetting the positive energy that come from creativity and new ideas.

The majority of the staff is also female. The executive chef, Rosanna Passione, a dedicated cook with international experience, coordinates and leads the weekly classes in both English and Italian. Other amazing chefs involved in the project are Entiana Osmenzeza of Se-Sto Restaurant in the Hotel Excelsior Florence, Valeria Piccini of Da Caino Restaurant in Montemerano (GR), Maria Salcuni and Natascia Santandrea of Tenda Rossa Restaurant in Crebaia (FI),Ombretta Saporito of La Leggenda dei Frati Restaurant in Castellina in Chianti (SI) and Beatrice Segoni of Borgo San Jacopo Restaurant in Florence.

MaMa Florence is WINE

More than just a kitchen, MaMa is also a place to explore and learn about wine and extra virgin olive oil as well as other foods. In the cellar of the school there is a comfortable space that is both wine cellar and relaxed tasting room. Filippo Bartolotta, journalist and international wine taster and expert, has filled the calendar with wine tasting classes classes, vertical tastings, classes focusing on specific regions, wine challenge events and all kinds of events focusing on wine, alcohol, cocktails and extra virgin olive oil.

The activities in MaMa Florence's wine cellar will be lead by incredible producers and experts in the field such as Sandro Bosticco, Professor at the Univeristy of Gastronomic Science in Pollenzo, Ernesto Gentili, editor of the L'Espresso Wine Guide, Eleanora Guerini, editor of the Gambero Rosso Wine Guide, Lawrence D'Almeda, enologist and food and wine guide and Mari Verocai, head sommelier of Le Baccanti Tours.

MaMa Florence is TUSCAN

MaMa Florence faces the medieval walls that surround the historic center of Florence and is close to Piazza Tasso and the historic areas of San Frediano and Santo Spirito.. The school is divided into two floors. On the ground floor is a large kitchen which is dominated by an island with both stovetop and working stations. The basement is dedicated to the cellar and tasting room. The materials used in the school were all sourced locally from the terracotta, to the plates from the furniture to the kitchen appliances. Local artisans were employed from project phase through completion.

The most important partner is Officine Gullo, who shares the same objectives, methodology, strategies and goals as MaMa. Officine Gullo brings to light the traditions of the antique Tuscan kitchens. In the workshop where Gullo kitchens are created, expert artisans bring to life a collection of stoves, stovetops and other kitchen instruments made with the highest level of workmanship and quality materials such as brass, copper, cast iron and steel.

MaMa Florence is GREEN

For many years the creators of MaMa have collaborated with Alice Waters, Californian chef and Slow Food leader, to organize charity events and cultural and culinary exchanges between the US and Italy. Thanks to Alice Waters, who planted the seed for the idea of the school itself, MaMa is the first Italian cooking school to be a member of the Edible Schoolyard Project. This incredible program, founded in 1995 in Berkeley, California, provides instruction and research on food and nutrition.

It is important to teach not only how to cook, but also answer important questions such as why and how we should cook. It is important to think about nutrition and health and teach not only the pleasure we can get from food but also the importance of informed food choices when selecting ingredients and preparing meals.

Given that the Edible Schoolyard Project starts from the fundamentals of agriculture and the earth, as MaMa was being built the MaMa team searched for a place nearby to have a vegetable garden with aromatic herbs and some vegetables. Beyond the medieval walls of Viale Petrarca, right in front of MaMa, is one of the most beautiful gardens in Florence: the Torrigiani Gardens. Torrigiani is 7 hectares of living green space and is the largest private garden in Europe inside city walls. Here, between fountains and statues, between bambù woods and the open meadows, MaMa has a vegetable garden full of beautiful produce to use in cooking classes.