Sicilian Cooking Classes in Taormina
Taormina has Sicily’s best-known cooking classes: a morning at the market with the chef, then a terrace kitchen above the sea for pasta alla Norma, caponata and cannoli, or a short class that teaches one thing, the arancino, the cannolo or the pizza, in ninety minutes. Compare the top-rated classes below, then read our notes.
Cooking classes in Taormina
Cannolo, arancino and pizza classes
Formats: market visit and cooking class with lunch on a sea-view terrace, three to six hours; ninety-minute cannolo or arancino classes; half-day pizza classes; classes with named chefs whose reviews run into the hundreds; classes in Giardini Naxos below the town.
What you learn: busiate or ravioli, pasta alla Norma, caponata, involtini, the arancino shaped and fried, the cannolo shell and ricotta, and Sicilian pizza.
Price and time: 75 to 95 dollars for a short class; 120 to 160 for a market-and-terrace class with lunch.
Market and terrace
The Taormina format is a chef, a market and a view. You meet in the morning, walk the stalls choosing vegetables, cheese and fish, then cook three or four Sicilian courses in a kitchen with the sea or Etna in the window, and sit down to eat them with wine. Three hours for the short version, up to six with the market and a long lunch. Two or three chefs run the best-reviewed classes on the island here, and their names appear in hundreds of reviews; they are the safe choice.
One thing, done properly
Ninety-minute classes teach a single Sicilian icon: the arancino, from the saffron rice to the fry; the cannolo, from the shell fried on a cane to the sweetened ricotta piped at the table; or a Sicilian pizza. They are cheaper, suit children and cruise passengers, and leave the afternoon free.
Around Taormina
Giardini Naxos, the beach town below, hosts classes with pickup; Catania, an hour south, has cheaper classes; see Catania. Etna is 30 minutes away for the wine: see Etna wine tours.
Frequently asked questions
Which Taormina cooking class is best?
The market-and-terrace classes with the well-known chefs, if you have half a day; the cannolo class if you have ninety minutes.
Are Taormina classes expensive?
They cost more than Catania or Palermo, for the setting and the chefs; the short classes are fairly priced.
Can cruise passengers do a class?
Yes; the short classes fit a Messina or Catania port call with the transfer, and operators are used to the timing.
Read next: Etna wine explained
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.