Photo by: Earth Bound Expeditions

Giovanna Tornabene

Wanda and Giovanna Tornabene have run their restaurant out of the thirteenth-century abbey Gangivecchio, in Sicily’s Madonie Mountains, since 1978. Both of their previous books, La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio and Sicilian Home Cooking, won the James Beard Award for Best Italian Cookbook. Wanda and Giovanna spend most of their time at Gangivecchio and also have a home in Palermo.

Carolynn Carreño is a freelance writer for magazines and a coauthor of Once Upon a Tart. Her work was selected for the anthology Best Food Writing 2002 and has been nominated for the James Beard Best Feature Writing award. She divides her time between New York City and Los Angeles.

Books by Giovanna Tornabene

• Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

  100 Ways to Be Pasta

  Perfect Pasta Recipes from Gangivecchio

  For us, pasta is more than just a food. It is part of our histories. It is a good friend, a member of the family. It is something we love . . . When Italians offer a plate of pasta to friends or strangers, we are opening the doors of our homes and welcoming them inside in the most generous way. It is in that spirit that my mamma and I, who have had the good fortune to be accompanied all our lives by this most versatile of foods, invite you through the tall, ancient wooden doors of Gangivecchio...