About Us

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Register to continue

News, stories, and recipes for anyone who loves Italian food, wine, spirits, and travel

Appetito

By training, Chiara Montalto Giannini is an actress and a writer, but she has been cooking since before she can remember. As an actress and a writer, her solo play, A Brooklyn Love Story &#8211; based on the decade she spent living in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn with her grandfather &#8211; was produced Off Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York and at Theatre 68 in Los Angeles, where it was directed by Ronnie Marmo. Currently, she is the Director of the Writers Guild Initiative, a non-profit affiliated with the WGAE that shares the tools of writing and creative expression with different communities. She&#8217;s also a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and the Dramatists Guild. At Appetito, Chiara will share recipes from her childhood and those she has learned through her extensive pursuit of Italian food both here and abroad.

Chiara Montalto Giannini

Italian spezzatino made with beef, carrots, potatoes, peas, and onions.

Recipes

Hearty Italian Spezzatino for Family Dinner

I am the idea behind and the co-founder of Mama Mancini’s. I am also a home cook, an obsessed entrepreneur, traveler, foodie, and I love sharing all of it with anyone who wants to listen. I believe passion fuels ideas and there is no such thing as a bad idea or too much passion. I look at the picture of my grandmother, Anna Mancini, holding me as a baby and think wow if my grandmother only knew that all those countless days of me learning how to cook by her side in Brooklyn would turn into this. After 25 years in the garment industry, I decided in 2007 it was time for a change. My idea: real meatballs made the authentic Italian way and sold in real sauce. To me there was no other way they should be offered, that was my big idea and Mama Mancini’s was born. The rest is history. So, I say this to everyone who has an idea: never give up; don’t listen to the people who say it won’t work. No idea is a bad idea and always chase your dreams. Let’s cook.

beef stew

Hearty Italian Spezzatino for Family Dinner

An Italian-Inspired Beef Stew

Stay in touch