Travelling, Discovering, Tasting Puglia… Starting from North Salento
A unique Experience in Puglia With Us
Pizzaca and Taranta
Under the Olive Trees
History of Trulli
The ancient Apulian houses
Orecchiette, che pasta!
A special Cooking Class
Puglias cheese
One of tipical local product
We love to share the best of our traditions with our guests.
We are a couple specialized in enogastronomy tours. We live in a charming area in the center of Puglia in a Trulli-house, the traditional and typical houses, in the Itria Valley (a very particular vegetation and Unesco heritage), near the Adriatic sea and the Murgia, the typical Apulian hill.
Nord Salento Tour
Private Classes
At your stay in Puglia, preparing together or enjoying a complete dinner of our traditional cuisine.
Shared Classes
Cooking and Master class in the beautiful scenario of our Trulli house in the land of the Itria Valley. Group experience.
REVIEWS
TheGirlFromAsiaVerified An Intimate and Memorable Cooking Experience in Puglia We had a truly wonderful experience spending five hours with Simona at her home and property in Puglia. What made this class so special was that it felt like much more than a cooking lesson — it felt like being welcomed into her world. We were lucky to be the only two students that day, which made the experience especially personal and relaxed. Simona began by offering us coffee, and I happily tried hers with chile, which was delicious and such a fun surprise. From there, she shared her own story of returning to Puglia after a career in finance, and it was clear how much pride and passion she has for the food and traditions of this region. She taught us not only how to make different pasta shapes, including orecchiette, but also the stories behind the ingredients, sauces, and traditions. We learned to prepare three sauces: a slow-simmered tomato sauce, a turnip leaf sauce with anchovies, and a tomato sauce finished with toasted breadcrumbs instead of cheese — a wonderful example of local culinary history and resourcefulness. Simona was patient, engaging, and genuinely fun to spend time with. Even when it started raining and we had to move inside, the experience never lost its charm. We laughed, drank wine during the lesson, and learned so much about the regional differences in pasta shapes, sauces, and cooking styles throughout Puglia. The meal at the end was incredible. We enjoyed our handmade pasta with the three different sauces, along with homemade olives, sun-dried tomatoes, greens, grilled zucchini with garlic, dried figs stuffed with almonds, and a digestive drink to finish. Every part of the experience felt thoughtful, generous, and deeply rooted in place. This was one of the most meaningful food experiences of our trip. Highly recommended for anyone who wants more than a standard class and is looking for a genuine connection to Puglian food and culture. a_bit_restlessVerified Absolutely worth it, very highly recommended! Simona is a great host and she really shared a lot of interesting information but just also her passion for cooking great local Italian food and approach toward simple but delicious combinations. She made the experience fun and personal and she seemed to genuinely enjoy talking to us about where we were staying what we had been doing. Her cooking is natural and healthy. She was also kind enough to give us a tour of her trullo home, which was quite interesting! I learned a lot. Plus, the food was fun to make, tasty, and the whole experience was one of my favorite things on our trip to Italy. Happiness45578271546Verified Puglia Cooking Class Reviewed September 17, 2025 Class was held, September 1, 2025 An amazing educational and fun experience Review of: Puglia Cooking class "Le orecchiette, che pasta!" My wife and I had a wonderful experience in this class! Simona was a fantastic hostess, spoke English well, had a great sense of humor and incorporated all of us in conversation, bringing out the best in us. There were twelve of us in our class, four from UK, four from the Netherlands, two from Estonia, and us, from the US. All spoke English beautifully. Within minutes, we felt as though we had known each other for a while. Simona talked about the history of pasta and their sauces. She covered the dos and don’ts about making pasta and sauces, gave us a history of the Trulli, including the one where the class was being held and where she lived, which she later gave us a tour of, and the Puglia culture. All of us participated in the making of pasta and sauces from scratch. We made multiple types of pasta as well as two traditional pasta sauces. Simona also provided us with her homemade wine and fig and pomegranates from her garden for dessert. Plenty of food was had by all. But that’s not all. Simona even humored me in singing an Italian song at the end! We would highly recommend this experience to anyone for a great evening out. Everything was educational, fun and delicious. We also bought her cookbook Quattro Stagione in Puglia. Can’t wait to try her recipes on our own. Thank you Simona for your hospitality and for having a great time. Tom KVerified Excellent cooking class - highly recommend This was a great experience - Simona was a welcoming and friendly host and provided an excellent overview of traditional Apulian cuisine. I would highly recommend this workshop - Simona has excellent English and is a great teacher. The food was delicious and generous! This is a wonderful blend of learning about the food but also the social and cultural context. We had a great time! GijspetraVerified Bravo Het was in één woord geweldig. Deze signora verstaat haar vak is bevlogen heeft passie en liefde voor de Italiaanse keuken. Aaron MVerified Hands on, learned a lot, great host. We learned a lot about the Italian culture, why pasta shape was important to the region, and most importantly, how to make it. Tomoyasu DVerified Superbe moment de partage culinaire, merci ! Superbe moment de partage culinaire. L'hôte était vraiment très sympa. Les recettes étaient assez simples d'exécution et savoureuses. La sauce tomate maison était succulente, faite avec les tomates du jardin. D'ailleurs elle nous en a donné quelques unes, j'ai replanté les graines et j'ai réussi à obtenir des tomates ! Merci encore pour ce moment. (Visite réalisée en juillet 2024) Mark CVerified More than just cooking. Simona ran a great evening, it’s much more than just learning to make pasta (which is fun), she gives an insight into the food of the region and many other aspects of the country life in Puglia. Great stuff. MariaRitaVegasDivaVerified Farm eating with a lively host. If you’re looking for a true cooking class, this is not the one. If you’re looking for a very social entertaining, cultural, social event centered around orecchiette then this is exceptional. We arrived early, which I recommend simply because GPS can be wonky and lead you astray. But remember we’re in Italy and 530 means 545 when we arrived the wonderful Simona was on the phone. We alerted her that we had arrived at 5:15. She acknowledge our arrival and then emerged at 5:45. This is a very laid-back socially entertaining pasta, making class centered around cultural discussion of the region. Simone explained the do’s and don’ts of adding cheese to pasta discussed some of the seasonal vegetables, cultural history of the Trullo we were in etc. Wine was served during our class which was a nice touch before we ate our homemade pasta dinner. While the experience and the instructor were very pleasant it’s not a westernized cooking class with measurements and in-depth ratios so don’t have high expectations. Rather it’s a social gathering centered around orecchiette. Of the 5 hrs we spent on the farm only 1 hour really focused on pasta making the rest was focused on historical facts/opinions which created a very enjoyable evening as we drank wine. Simona was an exceptional host and very inviting - spoke English well. I suspect she speaks several languages. Overall we loved the experience with Simona she was the key to the evening as for the pasta making well that’s up for debate. Overall if you want to experience eating on a farm then I recommend. Bing KVerified Zeer leuke inspirerende ervaring Leuke kookcursus. Simona neemt alle tijd en vertelt interessante verhalen over Zuid Italiaans eten en tradities. Voldoende inspiratie opgedaan voor thuis. Verder leuk pasta gemaakt en heerlijk gegeten. Ook leuke gesprekken gevoerd met andere deelnemers.
Distances and Routes
We live in Ceglie Messapica in the center of Apulia
Your guide to navigating the wonders of Salento: Distances from major Cities and airports.
- 80 km from Lecce
- 14 km from Ostuni
- 40 Km from Brindisi and the airport Papola Casale
- 100 km from Bari and from the main airport Karol Wojtila
Ceglie Messapica (BR)
Street - via Padula del Cimitero, 3
(+39) 3398686335
Contact us at phone or Whatsapp
info@nordsalentotour.com
Contact us for any informations
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Categorie
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- History of gastronomy (4)
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Orecchiette with Cime di Rapa (broccoli rab)
The Orecchiette with Cime di rapa (broccoli rab) is one of the must of our cuisine. It’s the typical winter menu because this kind of

The hidden river
Example of a great industrial modern architecture it flows all along Puglia and holds many world records. It has been renovated as a bike way, as an ecofriendly itinerary, to discover Puglia from a different point of view.

La nascita delle Orecchiette
Contents: La nascita delle orecchiette è avvolta nel mistero. Il poeta latino Varrone parla delle lixulae, un tipo di pasta a forma rotonda con il centro