Villa Crocialoni, surrounded by 35 acres, is a residential compound, fronted by fields and backed by woods, 45 minutes from Florence, 30 minutes from Pisa and 20 minutes from Lucca. The owners, Buncky and Marcantonio Pezzini, speak English and offer a unique friendly, family-style cooking experience in their own home. Marcantonio bakes the bread in an 1886 wood burning oven and handles the olive oil, the home grown organic garden produce, rabbits, corn fed free range chickens and their eggs--he also makes fig jam.  Buncky, a writer, with a degree in cooking in NYC and has lived in Italy for over 40 years, and gives hands-on lessons of Tuscan-American cuisine, ribollita (veggie bread, thick soup), pappa al pomodor (tomato sauce, herbs bread, thick soup), fried zucchini flowers, peperonata, meat, tomato, herb and veggie pasta sauces, grilled radicchio and eggplant pizzas, fish, herb, mushroom and veggie risotto, paté with herbs, their own chicken's livers and Jack Daniel's.  They are also joined by their son, Riccardo, who assists with the teaching on occasion.

Buncky Pezzini began her cooking career fresh out of Villa Duchesne. She studied at Duchesne Residence School in New York City, a finishing school where she learned French cuisine. The classes begin with the basics of Tuscan cuisine using natural, organically grown and raised ingredients. The recipes follow with the seasons. Other dishes include eggplant pizza, herb gnocchi di semolina and pollo ravioli ignudi.

Meals, wine included, are served under the Chestnut tree at poolside, pulled up to the marble topped kitchen table, or in the dining room. Buncky's home imparts fine country living, the way it used to be--with a touch of class. The flatware is family silver, plates are porcelain, Nonna Ada's hand embroidered linen towels, Grand Nonna Palmira's furniture, ancestor's portraits, marble busts, and cut flowers from the gardens. The hosts are flexible, ready to meet any reasonable request for change in itinerary or dietary needs.

The pool opens the first of June and closes the end of September.  There is a park behind the villa with private chapel where their children were married and their grandchildren were baptized, and trails in the woods beyond going down down to a lake stocked with fish. The Pezzini family dates back to 1345 and their Villa is spacious, filled with family antiques, paintings, etc.  Side trips include Florence markets, and Viareggio on the sea to the fish market. Lunch that day is in a local trattoria or cafe.

• Arrival at Villa Crocialoni in the morning.
• Quick lesson of main dish before lunch: I gnudoni, dumplings of ricotta and Swiss chard, large mixed salad, bread, wine, fruit.
• Afternoon: rest, swim, relax. 
• Cocktails and cooking lesson: meat, tomato and veggie sauces with pasta, cabbage, fennel, artichoke, pancetta, pepperoncino pan fry, bread, wine, cheese, fruit.

• American breakfast.
• Excursion to Viareggio's fish market, fruit and cheese shopping/tasting.
• Lunch on beach/boardwalk at the famous Fappani restaurant. Stop off at Lake Puccini at Torre del Lago, home of Giacomo Puccini. 
• Cooking lesson: risotto with fresh shrimp, filets of fresh sole in oil, lemon slices and parsley alla Parigina, boiled fennel in sauce, wine, bread, cheese, fruit.

• American breakfast.
• Jogging or walking in the woods if desired.
• Cooking lesson: Marco makes bread in a wood burning oven and oven cooked fagioli [their own white beans].
• Lunch prepared of mozzarella in carrozza with green sauce, large mixed salad, bread, wine and fruit.
• Rest or a trip to Montecatini or the leather factories.  
• Cooking lesson: Salvia in bocca veal and prosciutto, stuffed artichokes, boiled cauliflower with fresh green mayonnaise, fresh pears with mascarpone and Jack Daniel's sauce, bread and wine.

• American breakfast.
• Excursion of the Florence Central market, shopping, description of cuts of Florentine meat, veggies, herbs. 
• Lunch at Carmine restaurant in the Piazza del Carmine. Time for shopping. 
• Cooking  lesson: roast chicken in garlic and fresh sage, roast potatoes, chopped Swiss chard in red pepper and garlic, bread, wine, mixed berries in brown sugar & Jack Daniels.

• American breakfast.
• Free time in the morning.
• Noon cooking lesson of pappa al pomadoro, grilled eggplant with green sauce, bread, wine, fruit. 
• Afternoon trip to San Miniato , the white truffle center in the ancient hilltop town. 
• Cooking lesson: Ossobucco, potato pure with garlic and herbs, onions in oven, fresh tomatoes al oregano in oven, bread, wine, mascarpone ice cream topped with chopped dried apricots soaked in cognac.

• American breakfast.
• Free time in the morning.
• Cooking lesson at noon. Arista [pork chops de-boned] alla Milanese cooked in tomato sauce, insalata with tuna, boiled eggs, anchovies, mixed lettuces, bread, wine and fruit.
• Departure.
• Note: Schedule subject to change.  All foods are natural with no pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics or weed killers and are grown on the farm.

Among the four of us, we have extensive experience with cooking and food preparation. In spite of this, we all learned new techniques and acquired food knowledge from Buncky. Barbara, Gerri, Lydia and I have tried some of the recipes since returning home and have not been disappointed. We suddenly find ourselves very popular among friends who want to "share" our recipes. 

Villa Crocialoni was just what we were looking for in a school -- casual, informal, comfortable, quiet setting and delicious food. The excursions to Viareggio and Florence which the Pezzinis planned were perfect diversions and thoroughly enjoyable. Marco was more than happy to pile in all us girls into his car and take us shopping whenever we got the urge, which was often. "
C. Martin