I would like to introduce you to the family and friends who help make Lidia’s Italy possible.

Tanya Bastianich Manuali

Growing up the daughter of famous restaurateur and Public Television star, Lidia Matticchio Bastianich left me with some pretty high food standards to live up to. Growing up in Queens NY, children of immigrants were many, but most adapted to the American tastes for school lunch, brown bagging peanut butter and jelly. My mother believed in hearty Italian fare and my panino would have strings of prosciutto fat hanging off of it and lumps of pecorino cheese, leaving a 2-inch gap for me to get my 7 year old mouth around. Needless to say, there were no Twinkies. High school in Manhattan however worked to my advantage when my friends would dine at Felidia before going to the movies or be served chocolate cake and hot chocolate in the private dining room on cold winter nights. The restaurant world was not my first career choice and I chose to study art history, albeit Italian Renaissance art history, for my BA at Georgetown and my MA at Syracuse, the last part of which took place in Florence Italy, the beginning of a six year sojourn in Italy. England beckoned and I completed my PhD at Oxford; excellent for studies, not so great as far as dining is concerned.

In 1996 I felt the urge to help Americans experience Italy, and launched Esperienze Italiane, a small, upscale tour company focusing on Italian food, wine and art. I oversee the development of Lidia’s different product lines, such as Lidia’s Flavors of Italy Sauces. Lidia’s internet company, www.lidiasitaly.com, is also my brainchild, where Lidia’s books and products can be found, as well as recipes, a newsletter and information about Lidia.

I also have the pleasure of combining my love of the art and culture of Italy with my mother’s passion for its food and have co-authored Lidia’s Italy (Knopf 2007) and am currently working on Lidia Cooks from the Heart (Knopf 2009) in which I write about things off the beaten path, something “behind the scenes,” in other words, experiencing something different; the ability to see Italy through perspectives not highlighted in guide books, or to point out places that should not be missed when in a certain area.

Tanya is married to a Roman, Corrado Manuali, and lives in New York with their two children, Lorenzo and Julia (named after Lorenzo and Giuliano de Medici).

Shelly Burgess Nicotra

Shelly grew up in a small town in West Virginia as the youngest of six children. Her blood is mixed—mostly English from her father’s side of the family and a mixture of Swiss, French, German and Dutch from her mother’s. She left her small town of Keyser at the age of eighteen to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. “I thought I wanted to be a doctor and was encouraged to enroll as a Biomedical Engineering student.” That lasted four months, and Shelly ended up studying Art History. To please her father, she also earned a Bachelor’s in Economics, but Art History is what brought to her to Florence, Italy at the age of nineteen. After graduating from Vanderbilt, she returned to Florence to complete her Master’s in Art History through Syracuse University. After almost four years, she returned to the U.S. and landed in New York after having met Tanya Bastianich, Lidia’s daughter. Thirteen years later, she is the Director of Public Relations and Marketing and is the Supervising Producer of Lidia’s Italy and Lidia’s Family Table. Shelly married Lidia’s Executive Chef and Partner of Felidia, Fortunato Nicotra, eight years ago and they have a seven year old son, Alex and four year old daughter, Julia. When asked what she likes to do in her spare time? “I love my late night dinners with my husband where we talk mostly about food.” I also love writing about my kids. They have such an interesting perspective on life, and I constantly jot down their comments. I think it will be a nice wedding gift for them one day. Other than that, I sleep. I’m always exhausted!”

Lauren Kehnast

Lauren grew up in Glen Ellyn, IL, a suburb of Chicago, and attended a small environmental liberal arts school in Vermont. Upon graduating, she began working as an extras coordinator on a feature film, and continued on two additional features as a production coordinator. After leaving the unsteady film industry she picked up production again in 2004, a few months after moving to New York. She stayed in the lighting-for-television field for two years.

Meanwhile, Lidia and her crew, including lighting design by aforementioned employer, were shooting the Lidia’s Family Table series. Word traveled, as it often does, from the LFT set back to Lauren that Lidia was assistant-less, and over two years later she is still Lidia’s right hand. Last summer she told an inquisitive guest that she was a newbie in the industry, to which he replied, “Well, you started at the top!”