Le Marche active holidays
Courses and activities
We organize cooking classes and other food related activities and we can arrange courses with local farmers and artisans. We always add more courses and collaborations so please enquire when booking.
Please enquire about courses and activities when you book your stay with us.
Biking, hiking, horse riding and more for your Le Marche active holidays here.
Valle Nuova is also available for hosting activities and courses– we have a 45 m2 (480 square feet) beautiful space with beamed ceiling and wonderful light and we are surrounded by beautiful landscape, perfect for painting or photography – please contact us.
Cooking classes
We offer cooking classes at Valle Nuova. Learn how to cook fresh seasonal ingredients like a real Italian and to prepare some of Northern Le Marche local dishes. Real farm to table! We usually prepare two or three different dishes and a dessert. Our easy, but mouth-watering, recipes that will be easy to replicate at home. Our cooking class can be paired with truffle hunting or foraging, depending on the season.
The cooking class is followed by lunch where you’ll enjoy your self-prepared Italian dishes.
Foraging walks
Eating foraged foods is very popular in Le Marche countryside! It’s not strange seeing whole families in the fields with bags and baskets collecting seasonal wild vegetables, asparagus, berries, mushrooms and edible flowers.
We will be glad to take you out on a walk to collect (and teach you how to recognize) all the edible goodies that nature provides for free. Of course this activity is highly seasonal!
Foraging can be paired with a cooking class.
Truffle hunts
The king of wild foods is the truffle. It grows all year round here in the area around Acqualagna (the biggest truffle market in Italy). In our woods we have four different varieties that can grow during most of the year including the precious white truffle. We will be glad to organize a truffle walk with our neighbour and his dog to show you how to find this precious fungus. Truffle hunting is seasonal, please enquire.
Truffle hunting can be paired with a cooking class.
Cheesemaking
Our friend Flavia and her family will be glad to welcome you at their goat and cow farm to show you all the steps of cheesemaking. Milking, preparing the milk, temperature and starters, salting and ageing: this short, but complete, course covers every stage of artisan cheesemaking.
To top off this exclusive experience they will offer a tasting of their delicious products!
Basket weaving
Willow, wood, straw, plants: every possible natural material can be used to weave baskets, chairs and tools. Learn the old local weaving techniques and everything about the materials that can be woven into traditional or modern objects.
Courses can be tailored for everybody: from complete beginners to expert weavers interested in specific local techniques or shapes.
Wool dyeing
In the old times fabrics were dyed naturally, mostly with plants. The area of the Apennines between Northern Le Marche, Tuscany and Umbria was famous during the Renaissance for its amazing blue fabrics, dyed with woad –isatis tinctoria.
Young local artisans studied the antique techniques and now master the art of dyeing with woad, plants and other natural elements. They will be pleased to teach you their secrets.