Gelato and Fettuccine Class on Piazza Navona, in Two Parts

The class is built in two halves and then hands the result to a professional kitchen, which is an unusual arrangement and works better than it sounds. The first half is artisan gelato, made by hand. The second is fettuccine, also by hand, from the flour onwards. Both happen at Ristorante Tucci, with Piazza Navona outside. Then the pasta goes to the kitchen and you go to a table. Appetisers and a drink arrive while the restaurant's cooks finish what you started, and the waiters bring out your pasta and the gelato you made, plated as they would plate anything else on the menu. That is the part guests tend to remember: eating your own work served properly, rather than eating it standing up in a workshop. Sitting on Piazza Navona with a plate of pasta you rolled yourself is a specific pleasure, and it is the whole design of this class. Two and a half hours covers both halves and the meal, which is tighter than it sounds, because the two things you make want opposite treatment. Fresh fettuccine is flour and egg worked together and then rested, or it tears instead of rolling thin. Gelato needs time in the machine and time to firm up afterwards. Making them in that order, with the sitting down in between, is what lets the class finish with both of them on the table rather than one handed over in a tub. Gelato is not ice cream by another name. It is churned more slowly, so less air goes into it, and it is served warmer, around minus twelve rather than minus eighteen. That is why the flavour hits harder and why it softens so fast in the hand. Making it by hand is where you feel the difference. Besides your own work, the table gets appetisers, bottled water and a glass of wine or a small beer for anyone over eighteen. It is a meal. Book it in place of lunch or dinner rather than as something to do before one. There are limits worth reading first. The pasta has egg in it and the gelato has milk, so there is no version of this for vegans. The operator does not recommend it for children under six or for anyone with mobility problems. Teaching is in English. A single reservation takes up to ten people, which for a family or a group of friends usually means the room is effectively yours. Ristorante Tucci is at Piazza Navona 94 and you are met inside: go in and ask the staff to take you through, ten minutes before the start. Being late is expensive here. A no-show or a late arrival can be rebooked only for a fee, and nothing is refunded. The square outside was laid out on the shape of Domitian's stadium, built around AD 80 for Greek-style athletics contests. The buildings along its two long sides still stand on the line of the seating, which is why the piazza is that shape and not a rectangle.