Every trip to Italy holds a special place in my heart. Some journeys lead me to new places, others bring me back to beloved favorites, but every single one is filled with history, unforgettable flavors, breathtaking sights, and experiences that stay with me long after I return home.
But this year was something truly extraordinary.
While I was in Tuscany, I received a DM from someone I knew only through Instagram, asking how long I'd be in town. She wondered if I might have time to come to her home for lunch. You see, she also teaches pasta classes in beautiful Firenze. As fate would have it, I was headed there just a few days later, and we made it happen.
I hopped on the train and made my way just outside the city center. For this small-town girl, navigating trains and city life felt like a pretty big adventure. But it was easy, just a five-minute ride to Rifredi and a short walk to her home.
The moment I arrived, Letizia Capodicasa, "Letty," welcomed me with the warmest smile, instantly making me feel like family. Together, we made fresh pici pasta with a traditional Tuscan garlic sauce, and I cannot begin to tell you how special that experience was. Pici is something we rarely see on menus in the United States, yet I had already fallen in love with it while traveling through the Chianti region before my lesson with Letty.
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As we cooked, she shared her story with me. Letty was born in the tiny southern Tuscan village of San Casciano dei Bagni, near Siena, where the traditions of Sunday family lunches still live on. Her grandmother taught her the art of Tuscan cooking, making fresh pasta every Sunday morning. Those memories shaped her love for food and family.
But life took her on another path first. She became a Reiki master and opened a healing studio where she worked passionately with clients for years. Then Covid arrived, and everything she had built came to a halt. After three difficult years, she realized she couldn't rebuild the same life she once had. So instead, she chose a different route.
She returned to another passion she carried in her heart all along: cooking.
What began almost "as a game," as she says, became the most beautiful experience of her life. Though she initially spoke very little English, she opened her home and her heart to people from around the world. Guests don't simply attend a pasta class with Letty; they become part of an authentic Italian family experience. Around her table, strangers become family within minutes, sharing stories, laughter, wine, and traditions passed down for generations alongside Letty and her husband, Giancarlo.
And somewhere between flour-covered hands and shared plates of pasta, I realized something beautiful: Letty and I share the same story. Reinvention.
I walked away from corporate America after 24 years because my soul needed something different. Letty rebuilt her life after Covid closed the door on the career she once knew. Yet both of us found our way back to the same place: food, connection, and the belief that sharing a meal is the purest universal love language there is.
This trip reminded me that sometimes the most meaningful moments in life happen when strangers open their doors and their hearts.
If you find yourself in Florence, treat yourself to a class with Letty and Giancarlo. You can find her on Instagram at @acasadellalety.
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