Pasta Making Class in Frascati, Italy

When we booked our trip to Italy, I wanted to find an activity that our whole family can enjoy.  I looked online and found a few pasta making classes.  We decided to book one in Frascati, which is about a 30-minute drive from Rome.  This blog will feature details about our pasta making class and some tips on how to book activities for your vacations.

I mentioned on my blog about booking tips that I like to personally find deals and activities for our vacations.  I’m one of those rare people that really enjoys searching for deals.  I found my pasta making class on the Airbnb website.

Tip- Scroll through the website that you booked your hotel room or airline tickets.  Most of the travel sites provide activities for a discounted price.  After I booked our apartment in Rome through Airbnb, there was an option to scroll through activities around the city.  The pasta making class that I booked for our family, was only 32 euro per person.  Most websites had pasta making classes starting at 60 euro per person.

We arrived in Frascati and met our guide, Paolo, at the train station.  Paolo spoke about the history of the town on our way to the family own restaurant, Tinello 28.  The walk through town was around 20 minutes Long.  Our party of around 15 people had the whole restaurant to ourselves.  There were two long tables set for our dinner.  A couple of long tables on one side of the restaurant for the pasta making, and the chef in the kitchen started preparing the sauces to go with our pasta.  We get to choose between three different sauces, Amatriciana, Carbonara and Cacio e Pepe.

The group was introduced to each other and we all sat down at one of the two tables.  Paolo and a few hostesses started to pour the adults a complimentary glass of white and red wine.  He explained that both wines are from the family vineyard.  The white is Frascati Docg Superior white, the red is local Igt wine.  My four kids had an option of what soda they wanted. Water was provided for each table.  Paolo also presented each table with a charcuterie of local cheeses, salami, and prosciutto.  My family snacked on that while the first group made their pasta.

After 20 minutes, Paolo gave us a tour of the wine cellar downstairs.  He gave us a brief history of the cellar and the different ways it has been used in the past.  Before the technology of wine making and storing, his ancestors used the cellar as a storage for the wine.  We noticed how much the temperature dropped once we were downstairs.  It was so cold we could see our breath when we talked.  Paolo explained it was the perfect temperature for wine storage.  Also, the cellar use to be used as a bunker where the family and villagers use to hide during the raids of WWII.

My family made our way back upstairs to our table, and we were told it was time to make pasta.  Paolo asked us to choose which type of pasta we wanted to make.  Our choices are Fettuccini, Pappardelle, Tagliolini, and Tagliatelle.

I’m amazed at how easy it is to make home-made pasta.  Only 4 ingredients- 90g of all-purpose flour, 1 egg, a pinch of salt, and a little bit of water or flour to fix your pasta dough.

We went to work mixing, kneading, pounding, and stretching our pasta dough.  All of us enjoyed this part a lot, especially my kids.  My toddlers were so excited when they saw they get to make their own pasta.  It wasn’t too hard for them.  My husband and I had to help them a little bit with the mixing part.  My older 2 boys didn’t need any help.  We let the dough rise for about 15 minutes, and then it was time to roll out our pasta and cut it according to the thickness of the chart provided.  The cut pasta is placed on a plate and we made our way to the kitchen.

We all picked out which pasta sauce we wanted. The choices were plain tomato sauce, Amatriciana, Carbonara, and Cacio e Pepe.  Four out of seven of us chose the Amatriciana sauce, which is made up of tomato sauce, cheek lard, pecorino and parmesan cheese.  The chef boiled our pasta and prepared the sauces.  He told us step by step how to do it so that we can replicate the recipe at home.  We sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top of our pasta dish and sat down to eat.

This meal was so delicious!  I have never tried Amatriciana sauce and I am definitely a fan after this meal.  The pasta was the best part of the dish.  Maybe it’s because we made it from scratch, but the meal was amazing.

My older boys told me that the pasta making class was one of the best parts of our Italy vacation.  We all had so much fun.  Ever since we came back from our trip, I only make home-made sauce to go with our pasta now.  Have you booked an activity on a family vacation recently?  Leave a comment below.