The best learning holidays in Italy

What else is there to do? Visit Lecce, the ‘Florence of the South’, with its southern Baroque churches and pretty palazzi in golden sandstone. Try the antipasti at Osteria degli Spiriti (Via Cesare Battisti 4; 00 39 0832 246274, www.osteriadeglispiriti.it; mains around £11), a Slow Food champion specialising in Pugliese cuisine, including the extraordinary melanzane in agrodolce (sweet and sour aubergine). Then head to Italy’s southeastern-most tip for a swim in the turquoise sea at Otranto, and a look at the cathedral’s 12th-century mosaic floor, where you’ll find King Arthur and Alexander the Great hobnobbing with Adam and Eve.

Where to stay: In Lecce’s historical centre, new boutique hotel Santa Chiara is divine, every room a luxurious cream-coloured suite with a hydro-massage bath. Sit in the roof garden at sunset and watch the city glow (Via degli Ammirati 24; 00 39 0832 304998, www.santachiaralecce.it; doubles from £126, B&B).

Getting there: Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies to Brindisi, the nearest airport, from Stansted.

Painting in Tuscany

Let’s begin: In this region there are la-di-da painting holidays aplenty – this one’s a bit different. Studio Paradiso is far from the daubing crowds in the secret, wild corner of Tuscany called the Lunigiana. Here Medieval villages bask under mountains streaked with white – not snow, but veins of Carrara marble. Young Dermot and Kathryn Delaney offer a week of blissful informality – small, convivial, art workshops start at 10am, when guests set off exploring to find scenes to draw or paint, until around 5pm, with a long lunch in-between. And nobody will mind if you wallow in the pool instead because the emphasis here is on the holiday rather than the quality of your art. Accommodation is in the family villa (Caugliano; 00 353 7495 42388, www.studio-paradiso.com; from £918pp per week, including meals, outings, tuition and transfers).

What else is there to do? Potter around the old streets of nearby Pontremoli, before ducking into the Castello del Piagnaro and its museum of 3rd- and 2nd-millennium BC steles (commemorative stone slabs), sculpted with primitive faces (www.statuestele.org; £3). Try the Lunigiana’s equally unique cuisine at Caveau del Teatro (Piazzetta S Cristina; www.caveaudelteatro.it; mains around £10). The menu includes diamond-shaped testaroli, made with wheat and eggs, and said to be an ancient precursor of pasta. To get close to the marble mountains, head to Massa-Carrara and hire a bike to follow the three-hour Michelangelo in White trail; the tourist office has details (www.aptmassacarrara.it).

Where to stay: The Delaneys’ 17th-century villa, Casa dell’Unicorno, is set in a garden of vines, olives and cypresses at the top of a Medieval village, and has spacious rooms, exquisite food and flowing wine.

Getting there: EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) flies to Pisa, the nearest airport, from Bristol, Luton and Gatwick.

Wine-tasting in Friuli

Let’s begin: This region is terra incognita for most Brits, but wine buffs have dubbed it the Next Big Thing. And you can tour its vineyards on the back of a sassy yellow Vespa Roman Holiday-style – a local initiative designed to get visitors out and about in the beautiful Friuli region, on the border of Slovenia. Here, the hills of the Collio produce Italy’s finest whites (Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Tocai Friulano and the divine yellow Ribolla) and they’re so full of flavour they can go hand-in-hand with the prestigious reds of Piedmont and Tuscany. In Cormons, in the heart of the area, pick up a map at the tourist office, as well as a Vespa from Zorgniotti (Via Vino della Pace 18; 00 39 0481 60595; £41 per day including helmet) and buzz off into a boozy paradise.

What else is there to do? Plump for the £42 eight-course tasting menu at La Subida (Località Monte, Cormons; 00 39 0481 60531, www.lasubida.it), a superb introduction to Friuli’s hearty, tastebud-tickling cuisine. Nearby Udine prides itself on having the most ornate Venetian square outside of Venice, as well as frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo in the duomo and the nearby Oratorio della Purità. You should also make for the coast and visit the ruins of Aquileia, the most happening city in northeastern Italy until it was pounded by Attila the Hun. Evocative everyday Roman artefacts fill the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (www.aquileia.net; £3.30), while the basilica houses the best early Christian mosaics in western Europe (www.aquileia.net; £2.50).

Where to stay: The newly opened hotel Relais Russiz Superiore (Capriva del Friuli; 00 39 0481 99164, www.marcofelluga.it; doubles from £101, B&B), on a family-run wine estate, has elegant, understated rooms with splendid views over the golden slopes of the Collio. Stays include a farm-fresh breakfast, wine tastings and bicycles – for even slower vineyard tours.

Getting there: The nearest airport is Trieste. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies there from Stansted and Birmingham.

You'll only get the freshest of fish at the Rialto market in Venice (Ellen Rooney)

Cooking in Venice

Let’s begin: La Serenissima is notorious for lousy, overpriced restaurant food, but if you’ve ever wondered what a real chef can do in this most beautiful of cities, meet Enrica Rocca in the historic Rialto market, and get set for an unforgettable day. Jamie Oliver interviewed her for C4’s Jamie Does Venice because she knows how to choose the best produce and creates meals around it. After a first glass of prosecco at 11am, it’s time to haul your bounty back to the family’s 19th-century palazzo in Dorsoduro, where she’ll show you how to prepare it, simply and deliciously, with tips, laughs and maybe some more prosecco. Then you’ll sit down to a long, fabulous lunch (Dorsoduro 568/A; 00 39 338 634 3839, www.enricarocca.com; £235pp).

What else is there to do? Get out of town. Sail to Padua along the Riviera del Brenta Canal (00 39 049 820 6910, www.ilburchiello.it; full-day from £59), visiting villas along the way – including Palladio’s exquisite La Malcontenta.

In Padua, Giotto’s 14th-century frescoed chapel, Cappella degli Scrovegni, helped to kindle the Renaissance; visit it alongside the art-filled Eremitani church and museum (www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it; £11; book online). Further northwest, Vicenza has masterpieces by Palladio, culminating in his sublime Villa La Rotonda (www.villalarotonda.it; £8). North from here, there’s sensational Veneto country cooking at Ristorante da Riccardo (Via Val d’Assa 31/33, Carrè; 00 39 0445 314694, www.ristorantedariccardo.net; mains around £11).

Where to stay: Sleep like a Venetian patrician amid Persian rugs, frescoes and antiques in the romantic 17th-century Palladian Villa Margherita (Mira; 00 39 041 426 5800, www.villa-margherita.com; doubles from £75, B&B), set in a stately park on the Riviera del Brenta.

Getting there: EasyJet (www.easyjet.co.uk) flies to Marco Polo airport from Gatwick.

Architecture in the Basilicata

Let’s begin: The masterpieces of Palladio, Michelangelo and Brunelleschi deserve their admiring throngs, but for an architectural holiday with a difference head south to Matera in the Basilicata. A good chunk of the town is made up of Sassi – tiers of rock-hewn houses built into ravines. After thousands of years of continuous habitation, they were abandoned in the ’50s, when their impoverished residents were relocated. They left behind this amazing display – along with 150 troglodyte churches dating back to the 9th century, many with sumptuous frescoes. It’s easy to miss the best bits: go with the experts at Basilica Tour (00 39 328 974 4129, www.basilicatatour.com; half-day visit £42 for two, including wine tastings, full-day £76). They also offer a Passion tour – Matera’s Biblical aspect drew Mel Gibson here to film The Passion of the Christ.

What else is there to do? Dine in the softly lit alcoves of the Sassi on delicate fried courgette blossoms and tender involtini (meat rolls), followed by fiendishly good desserts at Le Baccanti (Via Sant’Angelo 58; 00 39 0835 333704; mains around £13). Head 40km south to Metaponto for powdery beaches lapped by the Ionian Sea, and a colonnaded Greek temple. North of Matera, Melfi’s castle was the Normans’ first HQ in southern Italy. Below, you’ll find the carved cellars of Carbone Vini (00 39 0972 237866, www.carbonevini.it), where you’ll learn about DOCG Aglianico del Vulture wine, the ‘Barolo of the South’.

Where to stay: Locanda di San Martino is in the heart of the Sassi. Cave rooms are well-equipped, and range from cosy dwellings with low-ceilings to a former church. Do take a dip in the Thermae – a remarkable subterranean pool (Via Fiorentini 71, Matera; 00 39 0835 256600, www.locandadisanmartino.it; doubles from £75, B&B).

Getting there: BA (0844 493 0787, www.ba.com) flies from Gatwick to Bari, the nearest airport, from £143 return.