Pasta Class Florence

Michele Gualtieri grew up between Florence and Bologna, where his grandmother's kitchen was his first culinary education. After training in Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy, London and Bangkok, he returned to Florence and in 2018 began teaching pasta-making from his grandmother's apartment in the centro storico, drawing on the fresh pasta traditions of the Bolognese kitchen in which he had first learned to cook. Word spread quickly enough that in 2019 he opened a dedicated studio near the Sant'Ambrogio market and launched Pasta Class Florence as a formal operation.

The private class the studio offers — The Art of Pasta, Nonna's Recipes — runs for three hours and is capped at six people, taking place in a dedicated kitchen space used exclusively for the group. The format is hands-on throughout: participants work alongside a Michelin-trained chef from dough to finished dish, learning to shape fresh pasta, prepare sauces and understand the techniques behind the results. The session ends with a three-course meal from what was made during the class, served with Tuscan red and white wines. The menu is customisable in advance according to preference and dietary requirements.

The team Gualtieri has assembled includes co-founder Marco Benevento, whose career was built in Florence's restaurant kitchens, and chefs with backgrounds at Michelin-starred properties in Tuscany, London and beyond. The studio sits in the Sant'Ambrogio quarter — one of the city's more intact daily neighbourhoods — with a sister address on the Via dell'Agnolo a short walk from the market.

NOTES includes the Pasta Class Florence private experience for its direct connection to the handmade pasta tradition, its genuinely small-group format, and its grounding in the specific food culture of the city.