THE ITALIAN PROJECT
Letting your Inner Italian outItaly isn’t just food. It’s places, seasons, rituals, folklore — a living symposium where stories and recipes are shared, in solitude or among friends.
How to let your inner Italian out
STEP 1
Cook the truth
Choose authentic recipes and real sources. Then relax, pour the wine, and enjoy the making.
STEP 2
Travel by region
Italy is a mosaic. Each region has its voice, pantry, and rites. Wander them all — on the page and in the kitchen.
STEP 3
Learn the culture
It’s never “just” a dish. Behind every sauce there’s a saint, a market cry, a proverb, a grandmother’s hand.
Where to start
Path A
The Banquet
Each Simposio volume is a course in the eternal symposium: recipes, stories, images, and traditions from a city, a region, a season.
Path B
The Aperitivo
Every Sunday, a free taste of my Italy — small notes, daily life, reflections. Think of it as the small talk before the banquet.
What is Simposio?
Created by Italian author Claudia Rinaldi, Simposio is a collection of Italian travel cookbooks that invites you into a symposium without time — food, wine, stories, and filosofeggiando.
You’ll cook recipes worthy of Bacchus’s table, stroll through villages where nymphs and fauns still linger, and discover rituals and the quiet beauty of everyday life.
Stunning photography and seasonal cues turn each book into a sensory escape — to be savored slowly, like a Sunday lunch under the vines.
DO!
Put on your apron and pour the wine. You have authentic recipes, seasonal inspiration, and good reads.
Soon you’ll be cooking delicious meals, nibbling as the sauce simmers, and maybe dancing around the kitchen. Promise.
ABOUT CLAUDIA
Author, storyteller, photographer — and host of Italian symposia. I live in magnificent Rome. My world is soaked in magic: I time-travel through markets and museums, hunt for mythical creatures in old tales, and make pagan rituals my own. When my feet reach the ground, I delight in melanzane alla parmigiana, well-worn books, and journeys that begin with a suitcase and an endless list of questions.
I create the Simposio cookbook series and write Italian Colors, a free Sunday newsletter. My mission: to show that Italy is an eternal land of rituals, flavors, and heritage, forever waiting to be savored.
Write to me: info{at}gourmetproject.net
Sources & method
Greengrocers and butchers, bakers and market vendors, restaurateurs, friends (and their nonne), field notes, archives, and the books that line my Rome studio. I listen, observe, cook, and report back — so you can taste the places where these stories were born.
Benvenuti in Italia. Take your seat: explore a book, or sip the Sunday aperitivo. Either way, the symposium has begun.
Claudia