The Tenuta di Canonica Agriturismo in Todi, Italy

I’m one of those parents who prefers to keep my children penned in to the backyard area with a hose and some water balloons, because when I take them out in public we are bound to meet mishap of one kind or another.  As such, our travels, while increasing in frequency as the boys get older, have yet been limited to family visits and low-profile excursions.  I have read with envy the blog posts about families traveling to Europe or the Amazon, experiencing epic adventures together.  “Someday…” I dream, wistfully.

Someday might come sooner than later if opportunities like Piccolo Chef’s Italian Culinary Vacations become possible for us.

Why leave the kids home for your exotic European getaway when you can lug them along and stick them in Italian chef day camp for a week?  (Classes for kids 5 and up.)  You can take them on side trips like horseback riding through the countryside or exploring a medieval town to enrich their experience, but that’s just icing on the cake.  While you relax “amidst the silvery olive trees that dominate the Tiber Valley,” your kids are learning how to cook you dinner. Take them with you on a wine-tasting side trip so they can learn how to uncork some chianti, and you’re all set.


This dream trip includes a 6-might stay at a residence in the town of Todi, 2 meals per day, several side trips, and happy hour, among other things.  The family flies to Rome, and Piccolo helps you with booking your flights and transportation to Todi, and even helps you arrange a stay in Rome itself before or after your culinary week.

If you can’t dash off to Italy for a week, you can get just a taste of that experience (pun intended) because Piccolo Chef offers cooking classes for tots right here in Los Angeles.  You can have birthday parties, there too, where children will work in the garden and learn to cook with the fresh produce they find there.  The school is run by Tina Fanelli Morracini and Lilian Palmieri, two moms who switched careers to devote themselves to passing on their love of healthy and delicious food to the next generation.  “It was quite a risk…to open up a business during these difficult economic times, but we are driven by a belief that what we are doing is going to make a difference in many lives.”  I’ll toast to that.

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