If you'd like to experience a week in the life of a Sicilian Marchesa, then Anna Tasca Lanza's cooking classes in the heart of Sicily are for you. While you won’t secure yourself a title (they were abolished by the Republic in 1947), you will learn to cook, eat and drink like royalty. For the past 15 years, Anna Tasca Lanza, daughter of Conte and Contessa Giuseppe and Franca Tasca d'Almerita has been conducting classes at 'Regaleali' , her family's magnificent estate set in the midst of a vast tract of gently rolling hills in Sicily’s wheat-growing interior.

Purchased in 1830 by the Mastrogiovanni Tasca brothers, rich grain merchants from eastern Sicily, Regaleali became a model farm by introducing new techniques and prize-winning strains of wheat and cattle. During the middle of last century outdated crops were replaced by vineyards which have made Regaleali-Tasca d’Almerita one of the most important wine producing estates in Sicily. Most of the olive oil, lamb, sheep's milk cheese, wheat, vegetables and fruit used in the Marchesa’s classes is grown here and 'Regaleali' wines accompany all the meals.

Week long courses can be arranged and include a "Spaghettata' (spaghetti dinner) on the first night in the colourful warm kitchen at "Case Vecchie" followed by cooking demonstrations each day, a guided visit to the vegetable gardens and winery, watching the shepherds make pecorino and ricotta, visits to the local markets and a farewell-gala dinner with a cooking demonstration of 'cucina baronale' (baronial cuisine) by the cherished 'monzu' chef of the Tasca family. As the Marchesa points out, there are two cuisines in Sicily – the rich, lavish aristocratic which reached its height during La Belle Epoque and was influenced by French haute cuisine; and the agrarian – or the cuisine of the people based on foods they could cultivate: pasta and bread (from durum wheat), fresh vegetables, dried peas and beans.

 

 

"The two cuisines shared an appreciation for a certain balance of ingredients and flavours that had evolved over the centuries," she notes in her book 'The Flavours of Sicily' (Ici La Press 2001). "Pasta knew no social barriers. Both classes loved sweets. And Sicilians relish elaborate arrangements of shapes and colours in their food." The Marchesa also conducts three-day, one-day and overnight courses which are held in autumn (late Sept- Nov) and spring (March-May). A maximum of 12 students can be accommodated either in her home or at her sister Costanza’s, both on the estate.

For more information: www.absoluteitalia.com

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