The Marchesa is Back!

While I’ve been juggling book stuff, sorting emails and orders (for which I would like to say thank you! As always your support is overwhelming!), it seems others are busy celebrating recent launches of their own.

Before leaving Sicily Kari Hock and I spent a day at Case Vecchie, the cooking school of Anna Tasca Lanza located in the heart of the family wine estate, Regaleali. Anna herself welcomed us at the gate separating a parched summer landscape from a flower filled courtyard. And it was Anna who walked us through a series of Sicilian recipes that I think she secretly doubted we would competently recreate back home. (The ricotta gnocchi? Kari went for it, but I never even bothered! The crostata on the other hand, I make all the time.)

After a morning of cooking we sat at a broad table, just Anna, Kari, and I until her husband Venceslao joined us. He kept a steady dialogue of family history going for most of the meal, something I did not mind. The Lanza family and the Tasca’s are certainly two of the more interesting families from Sicily.


“Mine was not exactly what one would call the life of an average housewife,” are the words of Anna Tasca Lanza. Although she learned the “good wife” skill set- embroidery and French cooking- at the Ecole Menagere Briamond in Lausanne she had little use for cooking while living with her new husband, the son of great noble family in his family’s huge palazzo in Palermo. Indeed, with a Monsu on staff there would have been little need for Anna to go anywhere near a kitchen.

With this history I was curious how she came by a cooking school. I recall asking her why she started it and she replied, “Because I had too.” Apparently the title Marchesa (a title attached to her by marriage) is no insurance for an easy life. But Sicilians- and those who visit her cooking school or read her cookbooks- are better for it. She is passionate about the Sicilian way of living and works hard to preserve the islands traditions.

It was for these reasons Kari and I were so heartbroken leaving the estate that summer of 2007. Our lesson had been inconvenient for her we knew. She fit us in because we were both moving away from the island, but it was clear she was tired. Her future seemed uncertain. Sadly, Kari and I both wondered, could we have been the last two students she would ever host?

The answer is a resounding no. Yesterday Kari forwarded me an email and I was jubilant to read new life has filled the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in the form of Anna’s daughter, Fabrizia. Together the mother-daughter team have launched an excellent Italian and English website (something that was difficult to access in the past). In addition, the duo are offering classes at the upscale resort hotel, Capofaro Malvasia on the Aeolian Island of Salina and interesting workshops such as a Weekend Chocolate Celebration in conjunction with the famous chocolatier, Antica Dolceria Bonajuto from Modica.

All I can say is welcome back Anna Tasca Lanza and welcome Fabrizia!

Website: http://www.annatascalanza.com/

*** Update Posted Nov. 20, 2008****

I realized I forgot to add a link to some of the wonderful books Anna has published over the years so I'm going to add them now. I have to tell you, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw her cookbook, "The Heart of Sicily" selling used on Amazon.com for $300! If you have a copy thank your lucky stars. I picked one up during my class. Perhaps you'll save money just by travelling to Sicily! It is also a good indicator of how popular and reveered she is not only in Sicily, but in the U.S.

"Flavors of Sicily, The: Stories, Traditions, and Recipes for Warm-Weather Cooking" was the very first book I read when we arrived on the island. I can recall sitting on my bed with the doors swung open over an olive grove at the base of Mount Etna consuming every word of this book. I love the personal stories and the warmth Anna shares in this book. I do believe this is the book that inspired me to really learn more about the people and the land around me.