Cooking Class in Sorrento, Italy: A Must!

Words and photos by Anika Woelffer, our Jetsetter Journalist who is studying abroad in Sorrento, Italy, during Spring semester 2024.

There are so many fun and unique activities you can do when you're studying abroad in Sorrento, Italy, but one you can't miss out on is a cooking class.

Naples, just an hour and a half away from Sorrento, is the birthplace of pizza and Southern Italy has some of the best pasta I’ve ever had. This week, I was lucky enough to attend a free cooking class offered by our school while we’re abroad, Sant’Anna Institute.

The class was at Qui Sorrento and they taught us how to make Gnocchi alla Sorrentina. It's a traditional dish from Campania - a potato gnocchi in a tomato and mozzarella sauce. 

When we arrived, there was a huge table with all of our ingredients and tools.

Smashing potatoes & freshly made ghocchi!

We started by peeling cooked potatoes and mashing them with a handheld masher. Next, we added parmesan, salt, and flour and kneaded everything together. After we kneaded our dough into a ball, we cut it up into six pieces and began rolling. We rolled out six medium to small size ropes and then proceeded to cut them up into small bite pieces.

Chef mixing gnocchi and sauce together & plating up!

After that, we boiled the gnocchi until they floated and then added them to our sauce. The sauce was already made, but we added in olive oil and basil leaves. Once the gnocchi was cooked and added to the sauce, it cooked for about three minutes before we added buffalo mozzarella and parmesan. Once incorporated, we plated up and enjoyed our fresh homemade gnocchi!

Final product!

This was such a fun experience and it was so easy to make! I didn't realize that gnocchi was only made from four ingredients that can be found in any grocery store. I’m so excited to be able to go back to the States and make it for my family and friends!

Sorrento offers so many different cooking classes from pasta to pizza making. They also have dessert-making classes which would be really fun too.

The best part, though, is the environment and cooking with the locals. I can't recommend doing a cooking class more because not only are you learning how to make an authentic dish, but you have a glimpse of Italian culture. Italians value having meals with their family and their diet hasn't changed much in over 2,000 years!

It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience to cook authentic dishes in Southern Italy!