Paola’s Culinary Roots

Paola’s love of food runs deep, seeded in childhood and nurtured by a family for whom cooking was never just about sustenance. She has been a supporter of Slow Food since her early days, attending courses in wine and olive oil tasting—refining a palate already sharpened by the joyful, bustling kitchens of her grandmother, mother, and aunt.

Her father played a quiet but essential role, sourcing vegetables, meat, and the family’s own olive oil, teaching her early on that the best ingredients are those chosen with care, grown or raised with patience and attention.

Saturdays were sacred. With her grandmother Giachelina, Paola would knead dough, dust herself in flour and breadcrumbs, and be rewarded with bread, Nutella, and unconditional love. Her mother and her aunt—the sole owner of the home restaurant “Da Rosanna”—added another layer: cooking was an act of care, a way of showing love. Festive meals were carefully orchestrated; the more elaborate the dishes, the greater the celebration. From starters to bread to desserts, the kitchen was alive, abundant, and joyful—a theatre of taste and tradition.

Paola’s culinary journey did not stop at home. She has followed and learned from leading Italian and international chefs, from Carla Tomasi to Jamie Oliver and Gennaro Contaldo, drawing inspiration from their approach and style, always seeking to enrich her pantry with new spices, new flavours, and new perspectives.

Her father’s passion for lush vegetable gardens and the attentive care of chickens and pigs left a lasting imprint. Today, Paola is vegetarian—but she remains rigorous about provenance, choosing only ingredients sourced from local producers she trusts. For her, every meal is a continuation of a family story, a testament to care, respect, and love, carried forward with quiet devotion.

It is for this reason that Paola takes great pleasure in sharing with you, friends who delight in teaching the secrets of italian cuisine, for you are the very first to cherish and adore it yourselves.