Take the Train to Frascati, Make Pasta in a Family Cellar

You get yourself to Frascati by train, a short ride out of Rome into the Castelli Romani, the volcanic hill towns above the city where Romans have gone to drink white wine since there were Romans. The family meets you at the station, by the Frascati sign.

They walk you through the town first, then down into the old cellar where their wine production started.

The tasting is two of their own: a Frascati Superiore DOCG, the crisp white that has been the house wine of Rome for two thousand years and takes its character from soil that was a volcano, and a Rosso IGT from the same estate. Both come with local cured meats and cheese.

Then the pasta. Aprons on, everything laid out, and you mix, knead and shape your own. The chef demonstrates the three Roman sauces, carbonara, cacio e pepe and amatriciana, and what goes into each, then cooks your pasta in whichever you picked. You eat sitting down.

After the meal you go down into the wine cave beneath the restaurant, where the family explains how the wine gets made.

Dessert is tiramisù, demonstrated rather than just served. The family goes through where it came from and what traditionally goes in, then assembles one by hand.

Two and a half hours on site, up to eighteen guests, in English and Italian depending on the group. Gluten-free pasta is possible on request and so are vegetarian and vegan versions, along with most allergies, though cross-contamination cannot be ruled out. Wait at the Frascati sign specifically: other operators run tours from the same station.