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Taking a cooking class in Italy is getting a backstage pass to the country’s soul. Everything comes together in the kitchen: a cook’s passion, the freshest flavors of the season, enticing aromas, sounds of garlic sizzling, and wine glasses clinking.

Each class will give you an opportunity to experience a different type of cuisine, depending on what region you land. In Rome you may be stuffing artichokes, in Naples kneading pizza dough. You can sign up for a one-day class or join in on the many week-long programs offered, where the itinerary typically includes visits to wineries and food artisans. Whether you’re an experienced cook eager to learn every detail or more the type who wants to sit back and watch some culinary magic, Italian kitchens welcome you.

Often classes revolve around recipes that were taught to your teachers by their nonnas. You follow along, becoming part of the tradition, by watching and learning through your senses of touch and smell. It’s an experience that takes you far beyond what you’d get if you were creating a dish from a written recipe.

It’s a joy to get swept up in a cook’s enthusiasm. That could mean prowling the Rialto market in Venice, intensely focused on the color of fish eyes or swooning over the smell of just-picked basil in Ravello.

Whatever form your class takes, there will be that glorious moment, when you sit down at the table to enjoy the fruits of your labor and toast, “Buon appetito!”