Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Stipo Potter and Gina Stipo.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mary and Gina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My sister, Gina and I offer culinary tours to Italy. We grew up on the east coast in an Italian American family and when we were young we lived for a time in the northern Italian city of Verona. Italian food was always a big part of our lives, learning about it and cooking. We both did a lot of entertaining when we each started in corporate America and our dream was to go to Italy. When we finally visited Italy as adults, it felt like home. Gina had already quit her corporate managed health care job and attended culinary school in NYC, in 1998 her friends who own a beautiful estate outside Siena in Tuscany asked her to write the estate cookbook and begin a cooking lesson program for their guests staying there. Ecco La Cucina – which translates to “here’s the kitchen” in Italian – was born! Gina began at that estate and then grew to a kitchen of her own and organizing week long culinary adventures in the various regions of Italy. As her business grew I joined Gina full time to help her organize and accompany the culinary workshops.
Gina lived in Tuscany for 14 years operating her cooking school, Ecco La Cucina offering cooking classes on authentic traditional Tuscan cuisine and culinary workshops for small groups. We’ve had people from all over the world attend our culinary tours, with the most from the U.S. I am based in Dallas handling the marketing for Ecco La Cucina, organizing our events and villas where we stay during our tours, coordinating our tour groups and traveling to Italy several times a year.
Four years ago, Gina moved back to the States and opened a small restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky called “At the Italian Table”. We continue to offer our culinary tours two to three times per year, usually in the spring, early summer and in the fall. Our culinary workshops are full immersions into not only the foods and wines of Italy’s regions, but it’s culture, history and traditions. Both of us love sharing our experiences and insights with our culinary groups.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
When we began, getting the word out that we were offering cooking classes for tourists traveling to Tuscany was our main challenge. This was way before social media of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the like became ways to reach our clients. We relied on our website and marketing efforts with mailing emails and snail mail.
Eventually we began a monthly newsletter that helped us keep in touch with our past clients and friends and reach new people interested in traveling to Italy.
During the winter, Gina would spend a few months in the States and I scheduled cooking classes, wine tastings, and lectures across the country. Those winter tours were ways for us to market our culinary tour business as well as Gina’s cooking classes in Tuscany. We connected with past clients as we traveled through the country during the winter. She would spend time here in Dallas with me and she taught many times in the local cooking schools – from Central Markets’ Texas stores to Market Street and the Italian Club of Dallas.
One challenge that we had – we would see our business dip when the economy fluctuated and people didn’t feel they had the money for a European vacation. Some of that is out of our control, but we had to get creative of how to find people. We had articles written about us that helped and appealed to people across the country, Canada, and UK. The winter tours helped too.
When Gina lived in Tuscany she traveled extensively throughout all the regions of Italy studying the foods and wines. To expand and grow, we began offering culinary tours to other regions. Many of our Tuscany clients have gone on our other tours, several have gone to each region we offer!
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Ecco La Cucina – what should we know?
Ecco La Cucina translates to “Here’s the Kitchen” and our culinary tours explore all aspects of the Italian table. We offer a culinary adventure for those that want to get off the touristy track and live like a local, exploring the wonderful open-air markets, the small ancient hill top villages and enjoying the local foods and wines.
Our small groups range in size from 8 to 14 people so everyone feels like they are with a group of friends rather than a tour group. Gina and I give an insider’s view of each region we visit. Living and traveling extensively in Italy has made us formed us into experts on the foods and wines of our heritage land.
Our culinary tours are full immersions into the foods and wines of the region, as well as its culture, history and traditions. We offer tours in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Bologna, Campania, Naples and the Sorrento coast, Puglia and Piedmont. Our small group tours are a wonderful balance of winery visits, cooking classes, sightseeing and unique cultural experiences ranging from visiting a pecorino cheese farm to truffle hunting or going to an olive press during the season.
We specialize in educating our guests on Italian wines. We explore the various regional grapes and varieties of wines produced in each region. Both Gina and I are passionate about these regional wines and enjoy sharing insights with our guests through food pairings at lunches, dinners and visits to wineries.
During the culinary week, our groups stay in beautifully restored villas and historical houses. Each location is carefully chosen for its charm and beauty and proximity to our excursions. Our guests are able to unpack for the week and feel as they’re “living” in Italy. The estates where we stay have amazing views and walking paths and one can really unwind and relax in between our excursions.
We are set apart from others in that Gina lived in Italy for a number of years, and I’ve traveled extensively for the past 20 years throughout Italy. We share an insider’s view of each region with our guests. We offer personalized approach to each guest and our personalities are open and friendly. We love Italy and enjoy sharing with our guests. Our pricing is all inclusive for the week. Just arrive to us in Italy and we take care of everything for the week. Airfare and ground transfer to our villa is not included.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Our many guests have played a big role in our success! They have written reviews (many on Trip Advisor), testimonials and kept in touch with us. They are not former clients, but friends after the culinary week is over. Our clients have been big cheerleaders – recommending our tours to their friends and offering help in their cities.
One woman who was a very successful realtor and lived in Hilton Head Island was instrumental in promoting us to her clients, friends, restaurant owners and any one that would listen about how fantastic our tour is in Tuscany. Sadly, she passed away last year after a brief illness. She was a great friend of ours for over 13 years.
We have many others who are big cheerleaders and supporters and Gina and I feel we couldn’t be where we are today without each one of them. Several of them have been to our culinary week in Tuscany multiple times, each time bringing a new batch of their friends!
Pricing:
- All inclusive week culinary tour – $3800/person
- Taste of Tuscany 4 day culinary tour – $2800/person
Contact Info:
- Website: www.EccoLaCucina.com
- Phone: 972-342-8308
- Email: mary@eccolacucina.com
- Instagram: @eccolacucina.com; mary_stipo_potter; @AtTheItalianTable; Gina Stipo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ecco-La-Cucina-Culinary-Tours-in-the-Heart-of-Tuscany-148942079136/
- Twitter: @mmpotter83; @ginastipo
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