After enjoying a Rome food tour around Trastevere on a previous trip to Rome, our family agreed that another food experience would be the perfect way to kick off our next trip. As our son was now an adult so we let him choose our Rome food tour: a Devour Food Tour devoted to pasta making.

Coincidentally, this tour was also in Trastevere. However, we would be spending our time at a state-of-the art cooking school learning how to make the perfect ravioli. After a few pasta making disasters at home, our son was determined to learn how to make his favourite dish the right way.

Our group was made up of lovely fellow travellers and our local cooking tutors, Stefano and Manu, were upbeat and fun, bouncing jokes off each other and slipping Italian phrases into their instructions. We agreed they had come up with the perfect ‘recipe’ for a fun class: laughter, great food and a confident teaching style that made even the least proficient of us feel confident.

“Go with your taste, find your recipe!” said Stefano, who insisted this was one of the key ingredients to creating the perfect bowl of ravioli.

But first, we had to make the pasta using some surprisingly simple tools. As we discovered, you don’t need whiz bang kitchen appliances to make great ravioli. But the generous glasses of wine and prosecco that were poured for us certainly helped!

We started by emptying a bowl of 00 flour onto our wooden chopping boards and creating an empty crater in the centre, adding an egg, and mixing it using a fork. Then it was time to knead the sticky mixture until our biceps had got a good workout and the dough was nice and smooth.

Then we put the dough in the fridge to rest and watched our volunteer cooks sizzle guanciale (pork cheek) in a sizzling pan to create a simple but delicious amatriciana sauce. Don’t forget to add a dash of white wine for a touch of sweetness!

While this was simmering, Stefano whipped up some gelato made with fresh peaches. He confirmed that while it was possible to make gelato without an ice-cream maker, you will get a much better result if you have one.

When our chilled pasta dough returned to the kitchen, we followed Manu’s instructions to create fettuccine using a hand-cranked pasta machine and a “chitarra”, a wooden frame with wire stretched lengthways cuts our dough into strips that was invented in the 1800s. After we had made the fettuccine, we learned how to loop it into a neat pile in the traditional Italian way.

We used the pasta machine to roll a thinner pasta sheet for the ravioli, then used three fingers to space out the ricotta filling and closed the parcels. If you are neat with your filling, you can use the edge of a glass to cut the ravioli, but a fluted wheel is better at disguising the slightly uneven filling of a novice.

Perhaps the best tip I got out of this class is the wonders that can be achieved by adding a splash of pasta water to a pan filled with fresh pasta and sauce. Doing this creates a glossy sauce that is richer, but without the heaviness of cream.

At the end of the class, everyone sat down around at a large, shared table, while Manu and Stefano dished up our bowls of rich, glossy pasta that were packed with flavour. And, of course, there was more wine and some of that fabulous peach gelato for dessert. Learning how to make pasta on a Devour Food Tour was the perfect way to kick off our stay in Rome.

Disclosure: The writers joined this tour courtesy of Take Walks and highly recommend it. Their son paid for his tour and was equally impressed. Whether you are travelling solo, as a couple or a family with children aged 13+, this tour is a must do. You can book it using this affiliate link at no additional cost to you.

Want to know more about visiting Italy? Read our tips for visiting Rome and discover some great things to do in Rome including some of Rome’s hidden sights, or detailed write-ups on where to find the best view of Rome, how to tour Rome on a Vespa or in a vintage Fiat 500, visiting the Sistine Chapel after hours, exploring Lake Como, touring Venice’s underground food scene, staying in tiny Pitigliano or Sorano in Tuscany, 10 things to do in Assisi, visiting the Colosseum, touring the Vatican, a foodie walking tour in Trastevere, exploring Florence on a free tour, staying at a luxury Tuscany spa hotel like Terme di Saturnia Resort or Fonteverde Tuscan Resort and Spa plus tips on how to spa like a local in Tuscany, and a foodie walking tour in the heart of Rome.