One of the best vacations I've been on! This was a combination birthday/anniversary gift from my husband and I couldn't have been more surprised and delighted! Casa Ombuto was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful setting, staff that couldn't do enough for you, and our chef Paola was sensational. She not only taught us to cook some beautiful and delicious dishes but showed us the true culture of the region.

My wife always wanted to someday to do a Tuscany cooking school. Deciding this was the year, we searched online and found Tuscookany.com. We are way beyond happy with the decision we made to spend the week at Casa Ombuto with Chef Laura Giust. It was so much more that a great learning vacation. It was a Wow! We had so much fun meeting and preparing meals with new found friends, learning ways to prepare new and out-of-this-world tasty dishes, enjoyed the watchful and delightful skills of Chef Laura, actually being a part of the beauty of Italy and its people, and, I learned ways to actually be helpful in the kitchen when we arrived home. The Tuscookany cook book used for the week is so well organized, helpful, so user friendly, and a great keepsake. It is now a fixture in our home kitchen. Our dinner guests beg for the recipes of the served fennel, orange and olive salad with pork tenderloin with pancetta, grapes and walnuts followed by zabaione with strawberries. Thank you Chef Laura Giust!

With careful planning and a bit of research (also reading suggestions on Trip Advisor), we decided to take the train from Rome to Arezzo (2 hrs), rent a car at Avis (right across the street from the Arezzo train station) and drove 45 minutes to the Casa, just outside Poppi. It all worked our very well and we arrived at check-in time as planned. Yes, driving on Italian roads is QUITE the experience, but by the end of our vacation, we had become quite used to the craziness and there was a lot less shrieking. GPS was a good idea, but often sent us on the "scenic" route (i.e. single lane, curvy roads with no shoulder, cliffs on one side, mountain on the other). Great way to see the countryside however!

Everything at Casa Ombuto is beautiful, well maintained and nearly perfect - the rooms, kitchen, dining areas and poolside.

What else can I say that hasn't already been said by all the previous reviewers? This was a fantastic experience - probably the most enjoyable vacation I have ever had. Everything was wonderful - food, friends, wine, grappa, service and especially Laura & Lauretta and the girls! Grazie! Looking forward to my next Tuscookany experience!

It's been 3 years since we did the cooking class, and it sounds like things are just as wonderful now as then. There are not enough superlatives to describe Paola! The accommodations are also wonderful, just as they have been described by others. The excursions stil are good dinner table stories. All I would skip would be the grappa! P.S. I could only submit this if I lied about when we went...ahlora!