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

Appetito

<a title="https://francescazani.com/about#:~:text=Francesca%20Zani%20is%20the%20Assistant,%2C%20food%20news%2C%20and%20more." href="https://francescazani.com/about#:~:text=Francesca%20Zani%20is%20the%20Assistant,%2C%20food%20news%2C%20and%20more." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Francesca Zani</a> is a Food Editor at Delish, where she develops and writes recipes and features, produces, directs, and styles multi-platform videos, and hosts on-camera recipe and educational content. She also curates European-inspired food, lifestyle, and adventure content and writes a newsletter on <a title="https://francescazani.substack.com/" href="https://francescazani.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Substack</a>. She previously launched <a title="https://francescazani.com/buy-it/" href="https://francescazani.com/buy-it/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ciao Boxes</a>, a curated Italian-inspired food box, through her<a title="https://francescazani.com/" href="https://francescazani.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> </a><a title="https://francescazani.com/" href="https://francescazani.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">website</a> and brand CIAO FRANKI LLC.
Francesca began her career as a bakery clerk at an Italian bakery, which led to pastry baking and decorating. She had a brief stint as a line cook at Castle Hill Inn and other Hudson Valley restaurants before joining Powerhouse Productions, where she worked her way up from Associate Culinary Producer to Culinary Producer. Over nearly four years, she produced award-winning lifestyle and food TV, working with talent like Patti LaBelle, JJ Johnson, Marcus Samuelsson, Kwame Onwuachi, and Jernard Wells. She was a producer on the James Beard-nominated series EatUp! New York, and led food styling for Wells’ cookbook Southern Inspired. 
Francesca is a CIA graduate with degrees in Culinary Arts and Applied Food Studies, with a concentration in Italian cuisine.

Francesca Zani

Bowl of rigatonini pasta with andouille sausage, Lacinato kale, cannellini beans, ricotta and grated Pecorino Romano.

Recipes

Rigatonini with Andouille Sausage, Lacinato Kale and Cannellini Beans

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

Bowl of ricotta gnocchi tossed in creamy Amalfi Sauce with lemon zest and fresh parsley.

Amalfi Sauce: The Lemon Ricotta Pasta You’ll Make All Summer

Ankish Shetty is the Corporate Executive Chef at Restaurant Associates (Compass Group), where he oversees the culinary program for one of Wall Street&#8217;s most prominent financial institutions in New York City. Mumbai-born and Michelin-trained, he cut his professional teeth at Rasoi by Vineet — the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant at Mandarin Oriental in Geneva — and at the Kempinski Grand Hotel Des Bains in St. Moritz. His cooking sits at the intersection of classical Indian technique and European precision, a perspective he has explored through his fusion concept, Fusion Chef, which has built a following around the idea that Indian and Italian culinary traditions share more than food media ever acknowledges. He works and cooks in New York.

pasta recipe

Rigatonini with Andouille Sausage, Lacinato Kale and Cannellini Beans

Amalfi Sauce: The Lemon Ricotta Pasta You’ll Make All Summer

How to Make Spaghetti al Makhani

How to Make a Signature Pasta Dish of Sardinia