A four-star boutique hotel in southern Tuscany is inviting guests to work its olive groves this autumn, in a two-date package that turns a long weekend into a working introduction to how extra virgin olive oil is actually made. La Chiusa Tuscany, in the hilltop village of Montefollonico, has partnered with Cook In Tuscany, the cooking school based on the property, to run the Olive Oil Harvest Experience across two stays in November 2026.
The package is priced at $1,750 per person and is commissionable to travel agents, which puts it within reach of the small-group incentive budgets many UK SMEs now work to. It covers meals, accommodation, harvest activities, local transport with the group, tours and the oil participants bottle themselves. Transport to and from La Chiusa is not included, so UK travellers will need to factor in flights and the onward drive from Florence, Pisa or Rome.
What guests actually do
The 165-acre estate holds an olive grove of 1,000 trees, some of them more than 300 years old, and an olive mill that first opened in 1353. Mornings are spent picking olives by hand, followed by a visit to the mill to see how extra virgin olive oil is produced and to take part in the process of turning fruit into oil. Guests bottle and label the oil they have made and take home roughly six to 12 small bottles, depending on how the harvest goes.
Afternoons and evenings move indoors for hands-on cooking sessions, where the freshly pressed oil is used over traditional Tuscan dishes alongside local wines. It is the kind of shared-task format that corporate organisers have been chasing for several years, and it sits neatly alongside the truffle hunts and vineyard stays that have made Tuscany a fixture on the incentive circuit.
Dates, price and practicalities
Only two stays are being offered: 1 to 4 November and 5 to 8 November 2026. Space is limited on both. Bookings and enquiries go through cookintuscany@gmail.com.
The timing works for anyone already planning an Italian trip. Montefollonico sits in the Val d’Orcia, within reach of the day-trip routes from Florence and Pisa that UK visitors know well, so a harvest stay can be bolted onto existing business in northern Italy rather than treated as a standalone trip.
Why UK travellers are looking at this
Bookings of this type have been rising alongside a broader shift in how UK companies use travel time. Recent research found that 76% of UK SMEs now extend overseas business trips for leisure or personal time, up from 48% in 2024, with most adding one to four days. A four-day fixed-date package in early November, outside the summer crush and after the main conference season, fits that pattern closely.
Anyone building a November trip should check entry requirements before booking. The EU’s Entry/Exit System is being rolled out across the Schengen area, and UK passport holders may need to register biometric details on arrival, at no cost. Passports must have been issued within the previous 10 years and remain valid for at least three months after the intended departure date from the Schengen area. Current guidance is on the Foreign Office travel advice pages for Italy.
For SME buyers weighing a small team reward against a conventional offsite, the appeal is straightforward. Everyone works, everyone eats, and everyone goes home with something they made.
Dining and Cooking