Enrica Rocca is known as ‘The Cooking Contessa’ and Gourmet Magazine rated her eponymous cookery school as one of the top ten schools in the world. 

Born in Venice, The Financial Times has described Enrica as “an Italian cook of note and a flamboyant and passionate chef and restaurateur…She has Italian cooking in her blood and a contagious zest for life and food…”

The Daily Mail says the Enrica Rocca Cookery School is the best Italian cookery school.

The plaudits are as endless as Enrica’s passion for food and her pleasure in sharing this with others.

As well as running a successful cookery school in London, Enrica runs classes in Venice from her family’s palazzo dating back to the 1800s. Does cooking get any better? We wanted to find out more.

Enrica offers half day, one day and two day courses in Venice. Cookery takes place in her stylish modern, loft-style apartment within the family palazzo. As one of only eight students, you’ll start the day by accompanying her on a trip to the bustling Rialto market, one of the oldest food markets in the world, believed to have been trading since 1097. Enrica says, ‘I never have a recipe in mind before I go shopping,’ (but unlike me she clearly doesn’t end up with a basketful of food and nothing to make a meal out of) ‘I see what’s freshest and best in the market, and I start my recipe from there.’

The shopping trip will be halted briefly for a glass of prosecco in a typical Venetian Bacaro before heading back to the palazzo to start cooking. You will create delicious meat, vegetable, seafood and pasta dishes, learning how to use the traditional spices that are an important part of Venetian cuisine.

Watch Enrica’s video clip of her Venetian cookery lessons and you’ll see that her ethos is about using great ingedients to make great food, and ensuring people laugh a lot and learn a lot along the way. 

For more information about Enrica’s classes in both Venice and the UK, visit her website.

Tags: Cookery courses, cooking contessa, Italian food, Italy, learn to cook, the cooking countess, venetian food, venice