Reviews

My friend and I traveled to Sicily in September 2024 on one of Francesca’s tours. It was an amazing experience. Francesca is a wonderful host. She prepared so many great experiences on this trip. The hotel and the location was beautiful. Each day we adventured out to the surrounding countryside to visit farms, winery, olive oil production, and of course the cooking classes. At every location we were treated wonderfully by the people who provided these experiences and were fed the most amazing meals. The group was small and personal so we had a great time meeting & enjoying the people who were there with us. We also had some time to walk around and do some shopping and dining. I would highly recommend her tours. I know that she spent much time traveling to each region and researching for the best experiences for her guests.

We recently returned from Francesca's culinary tour of Tuscany.  Simply amazing.  The tour is an endless stream of delights, from hidden towns all over Tuscany, one more beautiful than the next, to an amazing variety of Tuscan food, all home cooked! Wonderfull cooking workshops too! One of us had special dietary needs, and each host along the way made a special dish that was as good, if not better, than the served meal!   We ate chestnuts, truffles, poricini mushrooms, fabulous deserts and really got to enjoy the hidden Tuscany. All the hosts were amazing people who really enjoy what they do. Including all of our drivers! The villa we stayed in was very comfortable with wonderful hosts.  As for Francesca, she is simply fabulous.  Very knowledgeable about all things Italian.  Most of all, she is now our good friend. You will enjoy her tours! Hope to do another !

I just want to leave a comment on the Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures. It is a testament to the hard work and diligence of the group's owner and facilitator, Francesca Montillo, that I will soon be going on my third Italian culinary adventure! Francesca excels at planning the itinerary for her groups, with no details left undone. Little surprises, like tote bags and custom aprons for our classes just make things more fun. I was excited for my first LIC adventure last year in Puglia - the ancestral home of my grandmother being Bari. To say the trip met my expectations is a massive understatement. The sites, the food, the cooking; each day had something new to see and experience. My next adventure was in June of this year, when my nephew and I met Francesca and a terrific group of folks in Amalfi. The Amalfi tour was a bucket list item for me, having had to cancel previous plans at the last minute. This trip was everything I had hoped for, and more. As usual, the hotel was wonderful - on the water, but just far enough removed from the tourist traffic to be private. Within a five to ten minute walk (I'm old and slow) were many shops, the Amalfi museum, and the Piazza Duomo. The day trips, and of course the cooking classes, were all a lot of fun, with ample time to explore and shop along the way. We visited all the famous communes along the Amalfi coast, plus a boat trip to Capri. It was one of the best weeks ever! I can barely wait until next month, when I will meet Francesca and another LICA group in Sicily!

Words cannot describe what a fabulous tour we had with Francesca and the rest of our tour group! Every day was an adventure, from our first night at dinner, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, while meeting new friends and enjoying a delicious meal. We did so much more than what I had expected to do and see on this trip. The first day we visited a Lemon farm and made fresh ‘scialatielli’ pasta, eggplant parm, and a lemon tort dessert. And we got to eat it too! The next few days we visited one beautiful city after another - Positano, the Tramonti winery, and Ravello. We sampled delicious wines, had good food, and listened to our guide Rossella as she talked about the culture and history of Villa Ruffolo in Ravello. On our 5th day we traveled to Furore where we met Chief Vito Piccolo, who taught us to make fresh pasta, cheese raviolis, gnocchi and a few more dishes which we all enjoyed! As a special treat we received a gift bag with his recipes, a chef’s apron, a bottle of limoncello and a gnocchi board! The next day we spent at Capri! Another amazing day with good food, wine and friends! We can’t thank Francesca enough for planning every detail and ensuring that we all had a great time. We are a family that enjoys traveling together, and Francesca made this trip a very memorable one, and we are looking into future tours. We highly recommend Francesca’s Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures!

In September 2023, my good friend, two cousins and I joined Francesca‘s tour to Puglia Italy. Each day started out with breakfast in a breathtaking rooftop restaurant overlooking our beautiful whitewashed home base town of Lecce. But what truly made it more than just an amazing trip was Francesca. She made Italy our home. Her knowledge of its land, its people and language made everything magical. Every day was a marvelous adventure of sights, sounds and tastes. We ate, cooked and drank wine with our close knit group while traveling through beautiful seaport towns, towns carved into cliffs, ancient architecture and so many other beautiful sites. Francesca made every day special and I am so excited to embark on another trip with her in September 2025.

Want a wonderful way to experience Italy? I recommend the Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures with Francesca Montillo. Our tour was of the Amalfi Coast, and it was a truly amazing time. She introduced us to many of the finer things Italy has to offer. Several people have asked me “What was your favorite part of the tour? And what was the worst part?” The worst part was easy to answer: The tour ended way too soon. The best part is much harder to pinpoint. The four-star accommodations with the perfect location, the hands-on cooking classes, the day trips to Capri, Positano, and Ravello, the coastal sea cruises, the delicious lunch and dinners, and of course, becoming friends with all of our companions. I think my favorite part of the tour was Francesca herself. Having been born in Italy, she provided an insight to many things that most of us would have missed. I highly recommend talking any of the tours offered by the Lazy Italian Culinary Adventures.