Hello!
Hello everyone, after years of living in Tuscany and taking friends and family around places where we live and love, our greatest pleasure is to experience with you our every daily life and to provide you with a GREAT culinary and wine experience!
Chicca’s Story: From Naples to These Tuscan Hills
Chicca Maione, Owner & Founder
I grew up in Naples in a big, loud, loving Italian family where meals were sacred events and the kitchen was command central. For 54 years, our Nanny Lina cooked for us—never measuring, always tasting, passing down recipes that existed only in her hands and heart. I was the curious child hovering nearby, absorbing everything: how she knew pasta dough was ready by feel, when to add that extra pinch of something, why certain ingredients only worked together in specific seasons.
I filled a Hello Kitty notebook with her recipes, though I’d eventually learn that written instructions could never capture what she actually taught me—cooking as intuition, tradition, and love made edible.
My Wandering Years
Architecture school gave me precision and an eye for space, but my soul needed movement. For over 15 years, I traveled the world by bicycle—Alaska, Australia, Ecuador, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, and across Europe. I pressed flowers from each place, creating art that mapped my journeys. I met extraordinary people. I learned that home cooking transcends language, that sharing a meal creates instant connection, and that the world is far kinder than fear suggests.
Finding Home
When my daughter Elsa was born, the wandering transformed into different seeking: I wanted roots, land, a place to build the life I’d been imagining during all those kilometers pedaling through foreign landscapes.
I found our 18th-century farmhouse in Castagneto Carducci—crumbling, neglected, perfect. As an architect, I saw what it could become. As someone who’d spent years sleeping in tents and strangers’ homes, I understood what truly matters in a space.
Building La Casa Toscana
I restored every room myself, designing our home to honor its history while functioning for the life we’d actually live. The kitchen—my kingdom—received obsessive attention. Carrara marble countertops (the ideal surface for pasta-making, staying cool even on August mornings). Windows overlooking our olive grove. Herbs growing just outside the door. Every detail considered, nothing wasted.
This isn’t a showpiece. It’s where I cook for my family every single day, where flour permanently dusts the corners, where the wooden spoons are worn smooth from decades of stirring. When you learn to cook here, you’re learning in a real Italian home, not a simulation of one.
Sharing What I Know
For over 20 years now, I’ve welcomed guests from around the world into this kitchen, teaching them the way Nanny Lina taught me—by feel, by taste, by the subtle transformations that happen when you pay attention. Cooking classes became food tours, which evolved into these five-day immersions in our actual lives.
My food philosophy is simple: Italian cooking is about exceptional ingredients treated with respect, recipes passed through generations, and the profound connection that happens when people cook and eat together. No performance, no pretense—just the authentic techniques and traditions that make Italian home cooking what it is.
Arnaud’s Story: From Chamonix to Coastal Tuscany
Arnaud Bachelard, Copywriter & Photographer
I’m the French half of this Franco-Italian equation, born and raised in Chamonix where mountains taught me early that the best experiences happen when you venture beyond the obvious routes.
My Wandering Years
My twenties were spent working in one of Chamonix’s legendary cafés as a DJ, then various restaurants and bars across France and beyond. I met fascinating people, collected stories, and developed a possibly unhealthy obsession with finding the perfect espresso, the ideal pizza crust, the gelato worth crossing town for. (These obsessions persist—just ask Chicca about my morning coffee rituals.)
Words eventually pulled me toward copywriting and the occasional bizarre appearance in my own TV commercials. Photography became another language for capturing what moves me. Every image on our website comes from my camera—I wanted you to see this place exactly as I see it, not through some hired professional’s generic Italy lens.
How I Arrived in Tuscany
Twelve years ago, I came to Castagneto working as a guide for Cinghiale Cycling Tours, leading groups for Andy Hampsten (the only American to ever win the Giro d’Italia). The coast, the wine, the medieval villages, the particular quality of light here—I was captivated.
Then I met Chicca, and captivation became commitment. I never left.
My Role in Our Tours
I bring the outsider’s perspective that helps me anticipate what you’ll find fascinating, combined with the insider’s knowledge of where locals actually eat and drink. I’m your enthusiastic accomplice in discovering that perfect wine shop, that hidden viewpoint, that morning coffee spot where the bartender remembers how you take your cappuccino by day three.
I work remotely now, which gives me freedom to dedicate myself to hosting when guests arrive. My passions—discovering great restaurants, understanding wine as culture and agriculture, seeking the best gelato—have become the infrastructure of what we share with you.
I handle logistics so Chicca can focus on teaching. I tell stories (often funny, occasionally useful). I make sure every detail works smoothly. And I genuinely love the moment when guests stop being polite visitors and start acting like our slightly wine-buzzed neighbors.
Our Life in Bolgheri
Why We Chose This Corner of Tuscany
La Casa Toscana—Our Farmhouse
Our 18th-century home sits on the Bolgheri Wine Road, surrounded by 9,000 square meters of land. Fifty olive trees produce the oil we cook with (and that you’ll taste during classes). The vegetable garden supplies our kitchen. The pétanque court hosts long summer evenings. Every stone in these walls has a story from restoration.
This is where we raised Elsa, where we entertain friends, where daily life happens. When you come for cooking classes, you’re entering our actual home—the breakfast dishes might still be in the sink, the dog will probably investigate your bags, and Chicca will apologize for the organized chaos that defines a working kitchen.
Our Favorite Local Spots
After twelve years (Arnaud) and two decades (Chicca) of living here, we’ve developed deep relationships with this place. That wine shop where we have dinner? The owner sets aside bottles he thinks we’ll love. The cheese farm? We’ve watched their children grow up. The beachside café where we start some mornings? They know exactly how Arnaud takes his coffee.
These aren’t “partnerships” established for tours—they’re genuine friendships. When we take you to meet these people, we’re introducing you to our community, not checking boxes on an itinerary.
What “Everyday Tuscany” Actually Means
It means the rhythm we actually live: morning market runs, long afternoon pauses, evening walks through the village as shops close and residents emerge for their passeggiata. It means eating at restaurants where we’re greeted by name, not where tour buses park. It means showing you the shortcuts through Castagneto that only locals know, the viewpoint where teenagers hang out, the artisan bakery that makes bread the old way because the owner refuses to modernize.
You won’t experience Tuscany as outsiders pressing your nose against the glass of Italian life. For five days, you’ll be our neighbors—temporary but genuine participants in the daily rhythms we treasure.
Our Hosting Philosophy: Why Small Groups Change Everything
Maximum 8 Guests—Always
This isn’t about charging more for false scarcity. Eight is the absolute maximum number of people Chicca can effectively teach in her kitchen, the limit for meaningful conversation at dinner, the threshold beyond which “intimate” becomes “crowded.”
We’ve hosted larger groups in the past. They were fine. But they weren’t this—the kind of experience where everyone knows everyone’s name by day two, where spontaneous friendships form, where you actually connect with the winemakers rather than being herded through tasting rooms.
Small groups mean we can adjust plans when something special is happening that afternoon. They mean you can ask Chicca questions during cooking without competing for attention. They mean dinner conversation involves eight voices, not trying to shout over twenty.
Treating Guests Like Chosen Family
We’re naturally warm people—it’s impossible for us to maintain formal host-guest boundaries for five days straight. By Wednesday, we’re laughing at inside jokes. By your farewell dinner, we’re exchanging email addresses and making plans for return visits.
This warmth isn’t performance—it’s who we are. Arnaud will tease you. Chicca will insist you taste this one more thing. We’ll share stories about our lives here, ask about yours, and create the easy intimacy that only happens when people are genuinely interested in each other.
Obsessive Attention to Detail
Behind the relaxed warmth sits meticulous planning. Chicca’s architectural training means she thinks systematically about how spaces and experiences flow. Arnaud’s perfectionism about food and wine means he’s researched every restaurant, verified every detail, and has backup plans for backup plans.
You’ll never see this machinery—you’ll just notice that everything works smoothly, that you’re always where you need to be, that the wine at dinner pairs perfectly with what you’re eating, that the hotel room exceeds expectations.
Respecting People and Environment
Our commitment to organic and biodynamic producers isn’t political posturing—it’s how we choose to live and who we want to support. Every winery partner, the cheese farm, our own olive oil—all produced with environmental respect and regenerative practices.
This matters to us deeply, and it will matter to you when you taste the difference, meet these producers, and understand the philosophy behind their harder-but-better choices.
Twenty Years of Welcome: What We’ve Learned From You
Guests From Everywhere
Over two decades, we’ve welcomed travelers from 43 countries across six continents. Americans and Australians, Germans and Japanese, Brazilians and Canadians—every culture brings different curiosity, different questions, different ways of experiencing this place we love.
We’ve learned to anticipate what surprises Americans (the siesta closures, the leisurely meal pace) and what enchants Australians (medieval villages older than European settlement in their country). We’ve discovered that food and wine transcend language barriers, that cooking together creates instant bonds regardless of where you’re from.
How the Tuscan Food & Wine Trip Experience Has Evolved
What started as simple cooking classes expanded organically based on what guests wanted to understand. They asked about the wines at dinner—so we developed winery relationships. They wanted to explore villages—so we created walking tours. They wondered about local food culture—so we added the cheese farm and market visits.
This journey has been co-created with the thousands of guests who’ve helped us understand what matters most: authentic access, genuine relationships, experiences that feel personal rather than packaged.
Why We Love This
After 20 years, hosting remains deeply fulfilling because it’s never routine. Every group brings new energy, different perspectives, fresh enthusiasm for things we might take for granted. Watching Americans taste truly fresh Pecorino for the first time, seeing Japanese guests master pasta-making, hearing Australians laugh at Arnaud’s stories during wine tastings—these moments never get old.
We’ve built genuine friendships with past guests. Some return every few years. Others send Christmas cards, share photos of pasta they’ve made using Chicca’s techniques, or email asking advice for other Italy travels. These ongoing connections remind us that what we offer transcends tourism—it’s about human connection facilitated by food, wine, and shared beauty.
Return Guests and Lasting Friendships
Several couples have returned three, four, even five times—sometimes bringing friends, sometimes coming alone to recapture what they experienced initially. These return visits feel like family reunions. We know their kids’ names, remember what they loved last time, can pick up conversations from years ago.
This loyalty isn’t about our marketing—it’s because something real happened during their five days here. They connected not just with us but with this place, with the slower pace, with the philosophy of living well rather than just productively.
When past guests recommend us to friends (which happens constantly), they’re not passing along a vendor recommendation. They’re sharing something precious: a doorway into authentic Italian life that changed how they think about travel, food, and what matters.
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Come Be Our Guests
For five days, this life we’ve built—the farmhouse, the friendships, the favorite corners of our coastal Tuscany—becomes yours too. We’ll share what we know, introduce you to people we love, and show you why we chose to make our lives in this particular corner of Italy.