Tuscan Farmhouse Experience, Gourmet Lunch & Truffle Hunting

[Daneite]

The above is a shore excursion on our upcoming Ovation cruise, we don't do shore excursions but this one sounds fabulous! Has anyone done this with Seabourn?? if so can you recommend?

 

The truffle is one of the finest, tastiest and most expensive culinary condiments. It adds a wonderful flavor to any savory dish -- an automatic upgrade from delicious to outrageous. Take part in hunting for truffles today with some very enthusiastic canine assistance, learning how and why Tuscany stakes its claim as Italy's foremost region for truffle production.

A panoramic drive brings you to a truffle farm.

Ride by horse and carriage into the woods of Tuscany; then, begin your search for truffles in the company of a truffle-hunting dog. The dog hurries through the forest, sniffing about and digging for this edible treasure.

With newly-found truffles in hand, you will head back to the farmhouse for a delightful organic lunch. Farmers Davide and Francesca have lovingly crafted tagliolini pasta, with eggs from the farmyard chickens and lavished with shavings of truffle. Your simple gourmet meal is paired with three different Tuscan wines, including the sweet Vin Santo wine for dessert with tasty Cantuccini (biscotti).

Edited July 17, 2022 by Daneite

[johng75370]

“Upon returning to the ship, change into your uniform for the evening and delight fellow guests in The Restaurant with generous shavings of your bounty from the day”.  

 

This excursion sounds awesome!   “Shopping with the Chef” on steroids.

[marazul]

1 hour ago, johng75370 said:

“Upon returning to the ship, change into your uniform for the evening and delight fellow guests in The Restaurant with generous shavings of your bounty from the day”.  

 

This excursion sounds awesome!   “Shopping with the Chef” on steroids.

Make sure it is truffle season when you go...

[Daneite]

We should be ok, we go in October 👍

The marzuolo (spring truffle) can be found between January and April; the summer black truffle (or scorzone) between June and November; and the prized white truffle from late September to December.

[frantic36]

It sounds wonderful. Which port is this out of so I can remember to try to co-ordinate port and date on a cruise. 

[cadburysmom]

 

Thanks so much for posting!  

Just checked and am so pleased and excited to see it's being offered on our Ovation cruise in November.  

[cadburysmom]

6 hours ago, frantic36 said:

It sounds wonderful. Which port is this out of so I can remember to try to co-ordinate port and date on a cruise. 

Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy

[highplanesdrifters]

The Truffle Hunters- A truly wonderful and visually stunning film .

Unfortunately you don't get a handful of truffles after watching it.

 

https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/thetrufflehunters

[Isklaar]

10 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

The Truffle Hunters- A truly wonderful and visually stunning film .

Unfortunately you don't get a handful of truffles after watching it.

 

https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/thetrufflehunters

 

Great recommendation! We watched it recently. We found it very interesting and for sure, visually stunning.

[DC Traveler244]

I believe that this same excursion was offered when the Sojourn called at Livorno last month. I thought it sounded very interesting, but it departed so early that (per Destination Services) the lunch would take place in the late morning. So, you might want to check the departure time.

[Daneite]

11 hours ago, DC Traveler244 said:

I believe that this same excursion was offered when the Sojourn called at Livorno last month. I thought it sounded very interesting, but it departed so early that (per Destination Services) the lunch would take place in the late morning. So, you might want to check the departure time.

It departs at 9.30am so it will be an early lunch but not too bad. I would not have booked it if it was any earlier than that, I hate early morning starts!

[cadburysmom]

On 7/17/2022 at 1:05 PM, Daneite said:

The above is a shore excursion on our upcoming Ovation cruise, we don't do shore excursions but this one sounds fabulous! Has anyone done this with Seabourn?? if so can you recommend?

 

The truffle is one of the finest, tastiest and most expensive culinary condiments. It adds a wonderful flavor to any savory dish -- an automatic upgrade from delicious to outrageous. Take part in hunting for truffles today with some very enthusiastic canine assistance, learning how and why Tuscany stakes its claim as Italy's foremost region for truffle production.

A panoramic drive brings you to a truffle farm.

Ride by horse and carriage into the woods of Tuscany; then, begin your search for truffles in the company of a truffle-hunting dog. The dog hurries through the forest, sniffing about and digging for this edible treasure.

With newly-found truffles in hand, you will head back to the farmhouse for a delightful organic lunch. Farmers Davide and Francesca have lovingly crafted tagliolini pasta, with eggs from the farmyard chickens and lavished with shavings of truffle. Your simple gourmet meal is paired with three different Tuscan wines, including the sweet Vin Santo wine for dessert with tasty Cantuccini (biscotti).

 

On 7/17/2022 at 3:51 PM, Daneite said:

We should be ok, we go in October 👍

Hope you had (and possibly are still having) a wonderful cruise and wondering if you took this excursion and if so, please share your thoughts.  It looks so interesting!

 

We board Ovation next weekend and although we rarely take ship excursions, are seriously considering this one.

[CanAmBrit]

We took this excursion from the Soujourn in August. The blurb is, in essence, all true but the tour is no where near as grand as it sounds. The carriage ride into the woods is about 100 yards in a wagon pulled by 2 horses from the bus to the farmhouse. It  held our party of about 25.
The woods are a fairly small patch of trees but the truffle hunting itself was fun. All of us trailed after one non English speaking farmer and his dog. Our guide was there to translate and answer our questions and then we returned to the farmhouse, truffles in hand, for lunch. We did not observe anyone making the lunch as it was served in a separate facility holding two long tables. The food was simple but good and the wine flowed freely.

The farmhouse and the outbuildings were very well kept, lovely plants, olive and fig trees as well as flowers made it very attractive. 

The gift shop was well stocked with truffle flavoured delicacies and lots of wines and fancy liqueurs which we samples freely! There was no “hard sell” The jars of  truffle flavoured chicken pate that I took back to Canada as gifts  were well received and enjoyed by the recipients.

All in all it was a pleasant experience, but probably not worth the money that Seabourn charged. I believe that this same excursion can be purchased privately much cheaper but I have no details.

Hope this helps!

[cadburysmom]

26 minutes ago, CanAmBrit said:

We took this excursion from the Soujourn in August. The blurb is, in essence, all true but the tour is no where near as grand as it sounds. The carriage ride into the woods is about 100 yards in a wagon pulled by 2 horses from the bus to the farmhouse. It  held our party of about 25.
The woods are a fairly small patch of trees but the truffle hunting itself was fun. All of us trailed after one non English speaking farmer and his dog. Our guide was there to translate and answer our questions and then we returned to the farmhouse, truffles in hand, for lunch. We did not observe anyone making the lunch as it was served in a separate facility holding two long tables. The food was simple but good and the wine flowed freely.

The farmhouse and the outbuildings were very well kept, lovely plants, olive and fig trees as well as flowers made it very attractive. 

The gift shop was well stocked with truffle flavoured delicacies and lots of wines and fancy liqueurs which we samples freely! There was no “hard sell” The jars of  truffle flavoured chicken pate that I took back to Canada as gifts  were well received and enjoyed by the recipients.

All in all it was a pleasant experience, but probably not worth the money that Seabourn charged. I believe that this same excursion can be purchased privately much cheaper but I have no details.

Hope this helps!

Yes, it does and thanks so much.  Exactly what I needed to know. In fact, your description of gift shop items is making me hungry.  The only negative for us would be the size of the group. I envisioned half as many due to the nature of the tour but sounds like it didn't take away from the experience. Good to know you enjoyed it.

 

Thanks again!

[SLSD]

54 minutes ago, CanAmBrit said:

We took this excursion from the Soujourn in August. The blurb is, in essence, all true but the tour is no where near as grand as it sounds. The carriage ride into the woods is about 100 yards in a wagon pulled by 2 horses from the bus to the farmhouse. It  held our party of about 25.
The woods are a fairly small patch of trees but the truffle hunting itself was fun. All of us trailed after one non English speaking farmer and his dog. Our guide was there to translate and answer our questions and then we returned to the farmhouse, truffles in hand, for lunch. We did not observe anyone making the lunch as it was served in a separate facility holding two long tables. The food was simple but good and the wine flowed freely.

The farmhouse and the outbuildings were very well kept, lovely plants, olive and fig trees as well as flowers made it very attractive. 

The gift shop was well stocked with truffle flavoured delicacies and lots of wines and fancy liqueurs which we samples freely! There was no “hard sell” The jars of  truffle flavoured chicken pate that I took back to Canada as gifts  were well received and enjoyed by the recipients.

All in all it was a pleasant experience, but probably not worth the money that Seabourn charged. I believe that this same excursion can be purchased privately much cheaper but I have no details.

Hope this helps!

This reminds me of a Seabourn excursion we took at the port of Petrovlasak on the Kamchatka peninsula.   It was billed as an "exotic picnic" with a Russian herbalist and I have to say it lived up to this description.  Half of the attendees hated the experience and the rest of us loved it.  It involved a crusty Russian man who spoke no English, played the piano and sang and served us food from the forest and Coho salmon in a yurt.  Vodka was involved.  Every time I think of this, I smile.  It was quite memorable.  We won't likely be returning to Russia ever again and I'm glad we had this experience.  

Edited October 30, 2022 by SLSD

[Daneite]

20 hours ago, cadburysmom said:

 

Hope you had (and possibly are still having) a wonderful cruise and wondering if you took this excursion and if so, please share your thoughts.  It looks so interesting!

 

We board Ovation next weekend and although we rarely take ship excursions, are seriously considering this one.

When we boarded Ovation we asked Destination Services for more details, we were told, half and hour drive, the pictures of the horse carriage did not look comfortable and held too many people, there would be 30 minutes in the woods looking for truffles and then back to the farmhouse for lunch and shopping. It did not sound at all as good as the description on the website. We gave it some thought and decided to cancel. If we go again we will look into a private tour, we too thought it would be a much smaller sized group.

[cadburysmom]

3 hours ago, Daneite said:

When we boarded Ovation we asked Destination Services for more details, we were told, half and hour drive, the pictures of the horse carriage did not look comfortable and held too many people, there would be 30 minutes in the woods looking for truffles and then back to the farmhouse for lunch and shopping. It did not sound at all as good as the description on the website. We gave it some thought and decided to cancel. If we go again we will look into a private tour, we too thought it would be a much smaller sized group.

Thanks for your input.  We might do the same as we're considering a land trip to Italy next year. 

 

But now I have truffles on my mind and don't want to wait that long...oh well, I'm sure Seabourn dinner options will include a truffle offering that will tide me over til then 😉

 

Thanks again and hope you had a wonderful time on Ovation.