Food Tour at Rialto Market with Cooking Class and Wine Tasting

DO NOT BOOK. Your money will go to a translator that doesn't speak English, "chef" Santina's groceries for the week from the market - but you'll have microwaved pizza and boxed pasta with canned tomato sauce in a 4X4 kitchen in her apartment. No wine. No sommelier. Complete false advertisement.

This was a fantastic experience - We met Agostino on Saturday morning under the Goldoni statue really clear instructions sent 2 days before the tour. The Rialto market is well worth a visit - lots of fresh fruit and veg but also many spices , rices and dried fruit. The highlight was the variety of fresh fish and shellfish on display . Agostino was the perfect host , really friendly, well read and knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects . He day job is an Opera Director so my partner was in heaven talking about food, opera , but also on a wide variety of topics . After picking up ingredients from the market , we stopped off for a Bellini spritzer, overlooking the grand canal - very refreshing and alcoholic- beware ! Before heading back for cooking, we made an impromptu visit one of the many impressive churches Venice with a mixture of audacious art mixed with religious symbolism. Then back to Agostino's house to cook - he made us feel very much at his home - you can do as much or as little cooking as you want. My partner mainly cooked with Agostino while i enjoyed the ambience and great sparkling rose wine . We had 3 beautifully prepared simple Italian dishes with amazing flavours and great conversation while cooking and eating. It's the type of cooking you could easily replicate at home. We left around 3pm, not only enjoying the tour experience, but also making a new friend . Can thoroughly recommend this tour - fantastic ! Thanks again Agostino.

The tour operator was very disorganized. The chef who was a lovely person was at a disadvantage and we think he was not informed properly. The chef was very gracious in taking us into his home however we did not get the experience we paid for!

This tour was not what we expected at all and I would suggest buyer beware. First of all, the first part of the tour -- the visit to the Rialto Market and shopping at the market -- was cancelled outright, so that experience was completely absent, with no explanation given. The second part of the tour, the cooking class, was less of a cooking class and more of a brief demonstration. We were brought to the chef's home by her husband, who was serving as her assistant. We then received a demonstration of how to make a batter for frying vegetables, how to make a pizza dough, and how to make a basic antipasti -- it involved packaged puff pastry dough, Philadelphia cream cheese, and ham -- not really a traditional Italian recipe, I'm thinking. At no point were we allowed to do any cooking or even participate in any way. The chef spoke no English and the translator provided did very little translating, so much of what was said to the group was lost. After the three dishes were demonstrated to us, we were ushered in to the dining room where we were served a multi-course Italian meal prepared by the chef and her husband. The majority of the antipasti dishes were prepared in advance and were quite tasty, but we had no idea what they were or how to make them. In short, instead of a cooking class, we had a luncheon in someone's home. If I had known that's what I was getting, I would not have signed up for the tour -- and, although it was a lovely luncheon, it was certainly more than I would have paid for this event.