Cooking from the Family Cookbooks in Forio, Ischia

Twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday, and the recipes come out of the family's own cookbooks.

That is the thing to understand about Ischian food: it is not Neapolitan food that happens to be on an island. It has its own repertoire, worked out by people who had the sea on one side and volcanic soil on the other and not much else, and it lives in handwritten books and in what grandmothers remember rather than in restaurant kitchens.

The ingredients are seasonal and grown on Ischia, so what you cook depends on when you come.

Each person gets a workstation with the utensils and the ingredients laid out, which matters in a class of ten: you cook the dishes rather than take a turn at them.

Then you eat everything you made, with a glass of the house wine.

Four hours. Up to ten people, in English or Italian. Dietary requirements can be accommodated if you arrange them with the organiser after booking.

Wheelchair accessible throughout, service animals allowed, prams fine. Alcohol is not served to anyone under 21.