And unlike many celebrity chefs turned cookbook authors, he does not advise his students to do a mise en place (“everything in place”) sort of prep, with all the raw ingredients chopped and grated and processed and measured into small bowls before firing up the first burner.

Instead, he lets both his readers and his students know when it’s time in the natural flow of cooking to crush the tomatoes.

“After all,” he says, “it’s going to take the onions a few minutes to sauté, so do something else while that happens. It’s a better use of time and less intimidating. It’s more natural.”

Although Giuliano is amazingly accessible—he’s a frequent guest on the Today Show and regularly teaches all around the U.S., including seasonal demonstration- and tasting-style classes at Casa Italia in Sarasota—it’s only during his weeklong immersion classes at Villa Giona that just 12 students are treated to five hours a day in the kitchen and at table with the master.

His partner in the school and an active participant is Marilisa Allegrini of Valpolicella’s celebrated Allegrini winemaking family, whose viticultural roots stretch back at least into the 16th century. She’s on hand not only for tastings and classes at the villa but also conducts a behind-the-scenes tour of her family’s winery exclusively for students.

Sharing the host’s duties at Villa Giona are Lael Hazan, Giuliano’s wife of nearly 10 years and his partner in a business that imports Italian specialties, and the older of his two daughters, eight-year-old Gabriella. (Michela is just three-and-a-half, a bit young for kindergarten, let alone cooking school.) Gabriella is a pasta specialist.

“She keeps an eye on all the students when they’re learning to make pasta,” Giuliano says with a laugh, “and if something’s not being done right she lets me know.”

All instruction at the villa is in English, since the majority of his students are from the U.S., but his conversations with Gabriella are another matter. “I speak only Italian to my children,” he says.

Giuliano’s students are diverse, the common thread among them being, as he says, “a passion for food and wine and for trying new things.” In addition to Americans, the villa has hosted Russian, Spanish, French, Dutch and Australian students. They range from seasoned culinary professionals and aspiring chefs to cultural tourists to sophisticated home cooks. Some are wealthy, while others have saved up for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. They range in age from teenagers to octogenarians.

But here’s another thing many of them have in common: They enjoy themselves so thoroughly the first time that they want to come back for more. There’s been such demand, in fact, that the school has added an annual alumni session to the calendar, with a whole new agenda for repeaters.

And the agenda, for first-timers and alumni alike, is full. You can find out all about the field trips—to dine and shop and see how such specialties as Culatello di Zibello, a ham more prized even than prosciutto di parma or parmigiano reggiano, are made—at his elegant and easy-to-use Web site, giulianohazan.com, which is itself a sort of testimonial.

It was designed by a couple from Redmond, Wash., employees of Microsoft who spent their honeymoon with Giuliano (and 10 fellow students) at Villa Giona. They were so impressed with the school and their teacher that they offered to help spread the word by lending a virtual hand. Not only that, they returned for the alumni course on their fifth anniversary.

We know how Giuliano learned to cook, by “slow absorption” at his famous mother’s knee, but how did he become such an accomplished and sought-after teacher?

Marcella can take a bow there, too, since she was his model in the classroom as well as in the kitchen. But there’s another important part of the answer: He trained as a stage actor and director as a young man in Providence, R.I., and pursued that craft professionally for a while.

“And I’m still doing theater,” he says. “Teaching is very much a performance.”

Perhaps his fondness for the theatrical has something to do with his choice of restaurant for a regular student dinner outing in Verona. Tre Marchetti, which lies practically in the shadow of the Roman amphitheater known as the Arena, where an annual outdoor opera festival draws thousands, is considered by some to be the best trattoria in Italy (which is saying something) and is known by others as Verona’s version of a stage door canteen. The restaurant has been serving customers since 1291. Its current owner, Roberto Barca, is known around Verona as a personnagio, a character—but in the very best sense of the word.