The best Italian cookery courses

I love Italian food. Rich comforting risottos. Wholesome pasta dishes and what about some of those fantastic warming Italian stews.

Italian food is like many forms of cookery is intensely regional. The north of Italy is dominated by the hearty meat based food with lashings of rich cheese sauces. Down in the south in places like Puglia the food is based around olive oil, fish and tomatoes.

The reality is that anybody can boil up a bowl of pasta and add a cooking sauce. But how do you learn to cook real Italian food. Italian food with a heart, just like mama used to make?

The chances are if you want to cook up some really authentic tasting Italian food you will have to book yourself on a Italian cookery course.

Don't worry there are plenty. Here a selection of Italian cookery courses in the UK.

Caldesi in London has an extensive range of Italian cookery courses allowing you to learn how to cook everything from the perfect Italian pizza, to advance courses on how to prepare Italian recipes using game.

If you want to learn how to cook the perfect risotto then the Gables School of Cookery in the Cotswolds puts on a series of Italian cookery courses.

If you are curious about making the perfect Italian pasta or Italian breads or classics like gnochi then the award winning Ashburton Cookery School in Devon holds regular Italien cookery courses.

If you really fancy pushing the boat out what about a 7 day cookery course and gastro tour in Tuscany. As part of that tour you get to go to the central market 'Mercato Centrale' in Florence to check out the fantastic locale produce. The highlight for me has got to be to learn to cook the 'Tirimisu tradizionale' – Traditional Tiramisu. What a way to finish.

After learning to cook proper Italien food you life will never be quite the same again.

Check out Hartingtons Food Fair - Baslow, Peak District