Hospitality Students to Learn From Visiting Tuscan Chefs

Two native Tuscan chef/innkeepers are on the campus of Pennsylvania College of Technology this week to work with students and host an Italian dining event for invited guests on Feb. 5 with the menu "A Taste of the Tuscan Sun."

The chefs Giulietta Giovannoni and Stefania Balducci − come to Penn College direct from Italy. They are also conducting two small-group cooking classes, after which participants will sit down with the chefs and eat what they have prepared. Giovannoni, born and raised in Firenze, Italy, owns Fagiolari, a bed and breakfast inn surrounded by olive groves and vineyards, located in the Chianti region of Tuscany.

The five-room, converted stone farmhouse is situated in the hilly northern region of medieval villages and farms, where little has changed in centuries. In the inn's kitchen, Giovannoni conducts cooking classes for her guests, as well as guests of other accommodations in the area.

Balducci was born and raised in the hill town of Assisi, and her passion for cooking is rooted in the Italian tradition of cooking together with family in the home.

Balducci worked with Giovannoni in her bed and breakfast for three years and is now beginning her own catering and Italian-cooking-lessons business in Holland.

The visit provides an opportunity for students in the College's School of Hospitality to work side-by-side with the chefs throughout their visit to learn their techniques and prepare Saturday's benefit dinner.

Net proceeds from both the cooking classes and the dinner will be used for the Roger and Peggy Madigan Library Campaign.

The library − named for state Sen. Roger A. Madigan (a member of the Penn College Board of Directors) and his late wife, Peggy − is being constructed at the College's main entrance. The 104,000-square-foot facility is expected to be completed in the summer of 2006.