Cook Write in Tuscany

Cucinare e Scrivere in Toscana!

Join award winning writer & foodie Jane Cornes Maclean in the heart of Tuscany - to write and cook and learn some secrets of Tuscany while staying in the historical hilltop hamlet of Montestigliano.

Our experiences of food – meals with loved ones, the sharing of simple pleasures, places where magic happened – offer a rich source of sensory detail and wonderful inspiration for creating evocative, memorable words. And where better to create them than in beautiful, food-centric Tuscany. 

Jane Cornes Maclean

This delicious event includes –

• Staying in private self-contained villas on the property of Montestigliano 
• Daily inspiring writing sessions with Jane Cornes Maclean (see further info below)
• Make Limoncello with Damiano Donati
• Olive oil and wine tasting with Massimo Donati (Montestigliano award winning oil and wines from the estate.
• Walk and forage wild herbs and rose petals with our local cook and experience traditional Italian cuisine fresh from the farm to your plate.
• Tour to Pienza (famous for Pecorino) and Siena 
• If you’re yearning to create your own cookbook, Jane will explain the process of creating “Lazy Fare”,  her own collection of stories and recipes which won a special category award at the Gourmand International food book awards in Paris in 2021.
• Collaborate with your fellow travellers, local chefs, providores and Jane to develop 'The Cook Write in Tuscany Cookbook', a gift that will continue to inspire and motivate for years to come.

Award-winning author and food and wine journalist and former Gourmet Traveller state editor Jane Cornes Maclean will guide you through various genres including memoir, fiction and short stories. And if you’re yearning to create your own cookbook, Jane will explain the process of creating “Lazy Fare”, her own collection of stories and recipes which won a special category award at the Gourmand International food book awards in Paris in 2021.

About Jane Cornes Maclean
Jane is an award-winning features writer, author and journalist, and has been published extensively. She has worked as a communications professional in both public and private sectors. 

Jane was a state editor for Gourmet Traveller magazine for over a decade. She was Scoop magazine's first food and wine editor, and the inaugural program director of the Mundaring Truffle Festival. 

For five years, Jane wrote independent restaurant reviews for Post Newspapers under the "Madame Lush" byline. In 2009, Jane won the Alinta Hospitality Awards for Excellence Media Award for a significant contribution to the restaurant and catering industry by a journalist.

When freelance work dried up due to Covid, Jane wrote, photographed and designed Lazy Fare, a collection of recipes and non-fiction writing gleaned from over 20 years as a feature writer.  The book went on to win a special category award at Gourmand International in Paris.

Jane has always been fascinated by human nature, and this continues to lie at the core of her writing. Today, her greatest joy is helping others to realise their creative potential. 

MONTESTIGLIANO - THE PROPERTY The agricultural estate of Montestigliano has 2,475 acres of land of which 1,732 acres is forest mostly found on the back hill of the estate. With cypress avenues, holm oak and cork oaks, you can enjoy long and cool walks ending up with a refreshing swim in the river Merse. In the hills of Montestigliano the Donati family farm olives (3,000 olive trees) with beautiful terraces lined with ancient dry stone walls that also include delicious fig trees. The olive oil produced on the property is very prestigious D.O.P. (mark guaranteeing the quality of olive oil) “Terra di Siena”. The farmed land on the plain consists of wheat, barley, sunflowers, colza and maize, which is continually rotated on approximately 742 acres of land. The property is ecologically friendly with solar panels and has its own water purification plant. The latest eco project is the production of bio-gas for renewable energies (ZERO C02 Emission) using selected crops, maize, grain, sorghum and tricale. And the latest exciting venture is the re-establishment of the vineyard that is now producing delicious red, white and rose wines.

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