The Sunday Times Travel, 24th February 2008
Don’t just sit there watching Nigella and her sauces. Explore the planet’s kitchens with Jeremy Lazell’s guide to the tastiest cookery courses.
Rustic Sicilian, Italy
 There are more cookery schools in Italy than there are funghi in a Tuscan forest, but the Anna Tasca Lanza school, on central Sicily’s Regaleali estate, is a rare black truffle in a sack of ceps. Headed by English-speaking mother-and-daughter team Anna Tasca Lanza and Fabrizia Lanza, the school teaches simple but awesomely tasty traditional Sicilian cuisine, using meat, vegetables and cheese from the 1,000-acre estate. Guests stay in the gloriously rustic 19th-century manor house itself, with views out over Regaleali’s vineyards to the Madonie hills. Laced with Tasca Lanza charisma, doused in estate wine and generously sprinkled with visits to local markets, this isn’t so much a school as a total cultural immersion.
Details: Bellini Travel (020 7602 7602, www.bellinitravel.com) has five nights, full-board, at Regaleali, for £1,895, including four days’ tuition, tastings from the Tasca d’Almerita cellars, and visits to local markets; seven-day car hire can be arranged from £226. The nearest airport is Palermo – 75 miles away – served by Ryanair and Easyjet.
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