Photograph by Saghar Setareh
Photograph by Saghar Setareh
Amber Guinness is a cook and author living in Florence. She was brought up in Tuscany, south of Siena.
Born in London but raised in Italy, Amber learned to cook at her mother’s side in the kitchen at Arniano, the farmhouse restored by her parents Jasper and Camilla and where the kitchen has always been at the heart of life. She was educated in Italy until she was thirteen and then went on to finish school in London and to study History and Italian Literature at the University of Edinburgh. While at university she worked in her spare time as a cook for private events and photoshoots. In 2014, she co founded the Arniano Painting School, with her friend, the artist William Roper-Curzon on which she cooks lunch and dinner for guests.
Since starting the courses and beginning to cook in earnest, Amber has made a name for herself as an author, cook and host who champions the slower, more soulful side of Italian life. She has written three best selling cookbooks on Italian food, the first ‘A House Party in Tuscany’ was all about the history and food of her family from Arniano. Her second ‘Italian Coastal’ all about the food, history and legend from Italy’s Western Tyrrhenian Coast, and her latest book ‘Winter In Tuscany’, is a celebration of Tuscany’s off-season charm, when the days grow shorter, the food richer and the kitchen becomes the heart of the home.
Photograph by Valentina Solfrini
In 2014, Amber co-founded The Arniano Painting School, residential art holidays at her home in Tuscany for which she cooks.
Having learnt to cook at her mother’s side in the kitchen at Arniano (the farmhouse restored by her parents Jasper and Camilla) in 2014, with friend and artist William Roper-Curzon, Amber started hosting residential painting holidays which now take place across Europe and are centred around creativity and food, with William teaching guests to oil paint, and Amber cooking delicious meals for all.
These luxury art retreats have been featured in the New York Times, House & Garden, The Goop Gift Guide, The Telegraph, Avenue Magazine and Spectator Life. Sample Amber’s food on one of these retreats at her family home Arniano in Tuscany, at Pylewell Park, William’s family home in Hampshire, England or Ilias Estate in Kalamata, Greece. The courses are also occasionally hosted at other luxury venues across Italy and France.
Amber wrote about the history of Arniano, the family recipes that she cooks at The Arniano Painting School as well as William’s art and approach to teaching in her first book. ‘A House Party In Tuscany’.
