Pompeii: guided tour of the ruins and cooking class fresh pasta

This was a combo of a morning tour of Pompeii and a pasta making class with a local woman at her house. Our guide for Pompeii was Clelia, who did a very good job of taking us around to the highlights and explaining things clearly, as well as answering our questions. The tour was a little over 2 hours, though it might be a little less usually as one of our group had a foot injury so we went at a slower pace. We were picked up by Sabrina and brought to her house where she gave us a tour of the family gardens, which is where we got many of the ingredients for our meal. Sabrina served us 2 types of bruschetta with fresh veggies from outside, so we had a little something to sate the hunger before starting our pasta making. She showed us how to make ravioli, provided us with all the tools as well as the ricotta & spinach filling, and we each made our own, which she then boiled and just added simple butter & sage for a tasty lunch. That was followed by a delicious lemon cake which we made together, and we had their house wine & homemade limoncello as well, for refreshments. This experience was excellent and I would definitely recommend it. It's a bit pricey but the personal touch & private group adds a lot as compared to a large group of 20+ people where you get no personal assistance or attention. One recommendation I would make is this: This will vary with every group, but I recommend discussing with the host in advance if you think you'll want to spend more time visiting the ruins after the tour, as we would've liked to do. Sabrina kindly accommodated our request to explore a little on our own after the tour, but we couldn't push back the 2nd part of the activity too much without disrupting the schedule. Unfortunately, the tickets to Pompeii are only good for one entry so you can't go back later without paying again. If we'd thought of it beforehand, we would've requested an earlier tour so we could spend an hour or two exploring before beginning the cooking portion, but the guide & host were as flexible as possible and I appreciated that.

This experience was by far one of the most memorable experiences of my trip. Very kind and hospitable. I will do this again!

The Pompeii tour was awesome and we had Carla as our guide and she was very knowledgeable! Definitely couldn’t have learned more through a map and signs throughout the city. Next, Sabrina and Rosalba were awesome throughout the pasta cooking class! Sabrina’s home was beautiful, quiet, and provided amazing background views of Vesuvius. They explained the garden, trees, and vegetation that we not only ate but cooked with during our experience. Between the appetizers, learning how to make pasta, drinking wine, and making lemon cake…the amount of good laughs and full tummies is priceless.

We had the most amazing day! It started with Lucy our tour guide, who was very knowledgeable on the history of Pompeii. We headed off to a private pasta cooking class with Sabrina. We had the best afternoon with Sabrina! Thoroughly enjoyed the food, pasta class, the amazing wine and most of the the company! Highly recommended.

Highlight of our Family Cruise! What an extraordinary experience with Paolo and Sabrina and their family! We immediately felt at home and welcomed into their family. Their nephew Pasquale spoke fluent English which put my husband and my niece right at ease. They were so flexible when our port docking times changed and responded immediately the evening before our tour was scheduled. We were picked up at the port entrance and taken on a lovely tour of Napoli -- absolutely gorgeous! After a refreshing stop at Napoli's oldest cafe (with "un caffe' e sfogliatella), we journeyed to Pompeii (the new city) where we arrived at their gorgeous, lush Giardini Balistrieri. We were greeted with Prosecco (to toast my birthday) and some delicious appetizers with ingredients from their farm. We ALL enjoyed the cooking class -- Sabrina was so interesting in her explanation of the ingredients and the techniques. During our luncheon we were spoiled by huge plates of gnocchi with fresh tomato sauce cooked by Pasquale's mother Maria Rosaria ... and the dessert??? Amazing tiramisu. With such a lovely farm visit, we nearly forgot our main reason for visiting Pompeii which was to visit the old Pompeii ruins. That's where cousin Lello came in ... phenomenal guide who gave us such insight! We were driven back to the cruise ship with plenty of time, and full of exquisite memories. Paolo & Sabrina, we will be back!!! (and please send me that wine from Gragnano!)