Share Your Dream: Baking in Puglia with Luigi (June/July 2020)

This article originally appeared in the June/July 2020 issue of Dream of Italy. When I dream of Italy, I dream of making pasticciotto, a pastry with creamy custard filling, in Puglia with a handsome Italian named Luigi. When a nicely dressed, handsome Italian with dark curly locks walks into the room, I smile at how much I never expected the person …

Recipe: Lorella’s Ricciarelli from Tuscan Women Cook

This recipe was featured on Podcast Episode 4: How Tuscan Women Cook.  Tuscan Women Cook is a sponsor of the Dream of Italy: Tuscan Sun Special, now airing on PBS. In this episode, Kathy visits the hill town of Cortona in Tuscany, meeting a woman who might be just as passionate about Italy as she is – Under the Tuscan Sun author …

Recipe: Gnocchi alla Lorella from Tuscan Women Cook

This recipe was featured on Podcast Episode 4: How Tuscan Women Cook.  Tuscan Women Cook is a sponsor of the Dream of Italy: Tuscan Sun Special, now airing on PBS. In this episode, Kathy visits the hill town of Cortona in Tuscany, meeting a woman who might be just as passionate about Italy as she is – Under the Tuscan Sun author …

Podcast Episode #4: How Tuscan Women Cook

As in most any society, then women have the power – at least in the kitchen. Have you ever dreamed of learning to cook in a traditional Italian kitchen? Tuscan Women Cook, in the small Tuscan village of Montefollonico, brings travelers to Tuscany for hands-on learning in the kitchens of the masters – Tuscan grandmothers or nonni. Host Kathy McCabe pays …

Recipe: Traditional Tuscan Torta della Nonna

This article originally appeared in the June/July 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. This traditional cake, which is filled with custard, is a Tuscan favorite known as Torta della Nonna. As with most Italian classics, everyone’s nonna has their own secret recipe… but here’s ours! As far as we are concerned, my mother Maura’s Torta della Nonna is the best …

Recipe: Hot Chocolate Love Cake (Tortino di Cioccolato)

The first author in our Dream of Italy Book Club is Sheryl Ness. Her book, Love in a Tuscan Kitchen: Savoring Life through the Romance, Recipes, and Traditions of Italy is a real life fairy-tale and it all started with a tortino di cioccolato- a hot chocolate cake. Read about the magic of this chocolate cake and see the recipe to make it for …

Italian Christmas Cookie Recipe: Cinnamon Stars From the Dolomites

Click here for all Christmas in Italy travel suggestions Updated 2018. One of Italy’s most magical winter destinations is the Dolomite Mountains. This is a fantastic place to ski and when you’re visiting during the Christmas season to explore the Christmas markets and local traditions, especially in the town of Ortisei in Val Gardena (read more about Christmas traditions there). Our friends …

Recipe: Torta al Testo from Umbria

Updated 2018.  The delightful and talented Letizia Mattiacci, the proprietor of the agriturismo Alla Maddonna del Piatto in Assisi, is one of the great treasures of Umbria. The small cooking school she runs made our selective list of Italy’s best cooking schools. Her guests and students have long been asking Letizia for more of her recipes and she recently complied with …

A Classic Christmas Dessert Recipe from Sicily

Updated 2018. When writing my guest article on Italian Christmas desserts, I asked my friend Maria Louisa Manca, who is a very good cook from Catania (a beautiful city situated on the slope of Mount Etna) to share a favorite dessert from her native Sicily. Here is Maria Louisa’s classic recipe for Croccante alle Mandorle Siciliano: Ingredients: (for 7-8 servings) 500 grams almonds, …