Organic Italian Cookery Holiday

I had a really superb holiday. A very special experience enhanced by fabulous guides & excellent accommodation & staff at the Masseria Montenapoleone. Thank you.

Beautiful Masseria and interesting excurisons. Some outside restaurants that had been chosen for dinner were disappointing - not to mention the pre-set meal - not appreciated. Sharing transfers with another party meant a lengthy wait at the airport before departure.

Bit of a mix up with rooms to start and I started the first night on a sofa bed but it all got sorted out in the end. A wonderful place and super staff. Wonderful meals and trips and Veronica was a hoot

Masseria deserves 5+ stars! Overall stars reflect concerns about other elements: group was too large, so: limited hands-on cooking, no account taken of ability levels or a food intolerance, 2 vehicles needed for tours. Disconnect between quality of masseria & tour (lunches, wineries were budget). If these wrinkles can be ironed out, it has the potential to be a truly wonderful holiday rather than just a good one.

The Masseria was a very delightful place to stay, the accommodation I had was comfortable, attractive and quirky. The setting is beautiful, the breakfasts superb, the staff helpful and friendly. I would recommend it to anyone. Annarita their chef is not only a gifted cook but also a person with a gift for teaching. Our learning and ‘hands on’ experience was however, compromised by the amateur attitude and performance of the owners of the cookery operator i.e. Maura and Angelo. I would exempt from my criticism Veronica who did all the face to face work with us during the day and whose attitude, friendliness and helpfulness made visits to rather odd places (and cheap cafés) pleasant she tried very hard to accommodate peoples’ quirks even though it was clear she was given no authority to change anything without consulting Maura or Angelo. My stars for the course/excursions are nil my comments about the hotel and individual staff speak for themselves.

I have to say this is probably one of THE best vacations I have had. The whole experience was truly amazing, Guiliano at the Masseria was so willing to spend time to understand the philosophy behind the project, Angleo my driver/interpreter went out of his way to ensure I was always looked after.