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

Appetito

Bona Furtuna

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.

Daniel Mancini

Classic Neapolitan ragù with slow-cooked meat and tomato sauce

Recipes

Classic Neapolitan Grandma-Style Ragù 

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<div class="py-[3px] whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words">Mario Traina is a Sicilian chef, gastronome, and educator based in Catania. A graduate and ambassador of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo (founded by Slow Food&#8217;s Carlo Petrini), he is the founder of the Comunità Educativa Gastronomica Etnea, Sicily&#8217;s first educational gastronomic community. He works as a private chef across the island, cooking for travelers with a zero-waste philosophy rooted in local ingredients and Sicilian tradition.</div>
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<div class="py-[3px] whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words">Website: <a title="https://chefmariotraina.com" href="https://chefmariotraina.com/">chefmariotraina.com</a> | Instagram: @chefmariotraina</div>
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Chef Mario Traina in the kitchen with an apron on.

Chef Mario Traina

Sicilian watermelon pudding topped with pistachios, chocolate and jasmine flowers.

Gelo di Mellone: A Sicilian Family Recipe Remembered

Hello. My name is Joanna Moeller, and I am a passionate home cook residing in downtown Manhattan for 20+ years. I started my Instagram cooking page <a href="https://www.instagram.com/spaghettiroots_nyc/">@spaghettiroots_nyc </a>in April, 2023, as a way to showcase my cooking, as I initially intended for it to be more of an inspirational cooking page featuring my &#8220;No recipe, recipes.&#8221; It has truly been a wonderfully creative outlet for me.

Joanna Moeller

Chicken Meatball Scarpariello with Italian sausage, cherry peppers and fresh basil.

How to Make Chicken Meatball Scarpariello 

Italian grilled chicken served with fresh lemon and basil.

Italian Grilled Chicken Thighs

Paola Marocchi is a NYC-based pastry chef who has worked for some of the world&#8217;s most acclaimed chefs and restaurant groups. Her passion for Italian food was ignited from early childhood, growing up in an Argentinian household of Italian background that valued all things homemade and food as the main guest in any celebration. In her free time, she travels all over Italy mingling with locals and sharing in the culture, food, language and love for all things Italian.
Follow Paola on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/paola_marocchi_/">Instagram.</a>

Paola Marocchi

Soft, chewy and lightly crisp, these traditional cookies are a taste of Sicily.

How To Make Pasticcini Di Mandorle (Sicilian Almond Cookies)

Karista Bennett is a cookbook author (For the Love of Seafood, The Oregon Farm Table Cookbook) and the writer behind the Substack newsletter, A Taste of Belonging. She lives in Bend, Oregon, but her heart keeps wandering back to Italy. She believes the best stories happen at the table, usually with something garlicky simmering nearby. 
Find Krista at <a href="http://www.karistabennett.com">www.karistabennett.com</a>
<div class="wbloks_1">and Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/karista_bennett_author">@karista_bennett_author</a></div>

Karista Bennett

Linguine alla Cortona with cabbage, mushrooms and grated cheese

How to Make Linguine alla Cortona

Lowcountry Bella (Mandi Casey) is Italian by birth and Southern by choice. Moving to eastern North Carolina as a young girl, she was exposed to a whole new type of cuisine like BBQ and hush puppies. As an adult, she embraces both cultures so you never know what she may be cooking up in her kitchen! Currently she lives in both Pawleys Island, South Carolina and Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Her family continues to grow, and that makes her happy because there are more people to feed and love. What&#8217;s better than that?
In addition to creating, cooking and sharing great recipes, she loves to research the history of food origins. Understanding the flavors and ingredients helps her creativity, but more-so, appreciate the meal with even more passion.
Mandi loves to be a guest of events, signing books and donating a portion of her net proceeds to local charities. Her second cookbook, Mangia Y&#8217;all &#8211; Make Everyday Delicious, was released in July 2025.
Please follow her on her website <a href="http://www.lowcountrybella.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.lowcountrybella.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1705416623316000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2qLX1Ag56lHqdrjNXYhkQG">www.lowcountrybella.com </a>or on social media: @lowcountrybella on both Instagram and Facebook.
Mangia Y’all!

Mandi Casey of Low Country Bella on a foam green Vespa in a floral skirt.

Lowcountry Bella

Lowcountry Bella cutting fresh fettuccine with a hand-crank pasta machine.

Features

Pasta School with Lowcountry Bella: How to Make Fresh Fettuccine

Nonna’s Italian summer vegetable soup with zucchini, corn, green beans, potatoes and cannellini beans.

Nonna’s Zuppa dell’Orto: Italian Summer Vegetable Soup

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-casella-00081140b/">Chef Victoria Casella</a> is the founder, owner, and pastry chef and recipe developer of the award winning <a href="https://www.pasticceriaumami.com/">Pasticceria Umami</a>, the first company to focus on Italian Japanese fusion desserts. She also serves as Chef Lead and Culinary Instructor at Sur La Table. With family roots in Sicily and Basilicata, her work is driven by a deep love for Southern Italian culinary tradition and a passion for introducing regional Italian desserts to a wider audience. She is currently developing her debut cookbook, Pasticceria Umami: The Art of Italian Gelato, a collection of original and authentic Italian gelato and frozen dessert recipes elevated through quiet Japanese ingredients. To stay up to date with the cookbook and explore her recipes, visit her website.

Chef Victoria Casella

Sicilian-Style Lemon Yuzu and Fennel Gelato

Sicilian Lemon Gelato With Yuzu and Fennel

Alyssa Smolen, MS, RDN, CDN, is a community dietitian, nutrition content creator on Instagram, freelance writer and recipe developer. She has been quoted as a nutrition expert in Food Network, Martha Stewart Living, Food and Wine, Forbes, Parade and US News and World Report. Her work has been published in EatingWell, Dietitian Connection and Today’s Dietitian. Work. Alyssa’s account, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/arugalyssa/">@arugalyssa</a>, promotes simple recipes and is a source for myth-busting nutrition misinformation. 
Find Alyssa online at: 
<a href="https://www.arugalyssa.com/">Website</a>
<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@arugalyssa?_t=8lC6fE8Ykpf&amp;_r=1">TikTok</a>:
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssasmolen/">LinkedIn</a>

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