Italian cookbooks to discover, understand, and become part of Italy’s endless food culture – and a little beyond that
A collection of locally made, regional Italian cookbooks from Italy and about Italy!
MADE IN ITALY
LOCAL, SMALL, PASSIONATE
AUTHENTIC ITALIAN COOKBOOKS FOR AUTHENTIC ITALOPHILES
An Italian excellence for your library and kitchen.
Your guide to exploring Italy’s real, authentic, culturally rich essence.
The Simposio cookbooks are written in English by Claudia Rinaldi – an Italian author based in Rome – and published independently. They offer a new and unique way to experience Italy’s food, stories, and culture, region by region, city by city, or season by season!
ITALIAN COOKBOOKS FOR CULTURE SEEKERS
Each Simposio cookbook is a collection of Italian regional recipes, travel adventures, everyday life, and past and present culture: Italian cookbooks to deepen your knowledge of the peninsula.
The cookbooks are written by an Italian author who grew up and still lives in Rome.
ITALIAN CULTURE AND TRAVEL COOKBOOKS
Simposio aims to be more than a collection of Italian cookbooks: it is a unique and mindful travel and culture book series that preserves and discloses Italy’s infinite heritage.
In the spirit of the slow travel philosophy, you will discover a selection of magical cities, regions, or areas: majestic art cities, tiny perched towns, wine regions, and unique coastal destinations.
The beautiful pictures, city guides, interviews with locals, and historical figures in these cookbooks from Italy will lead you to the dreamy and authentic country, to its traditions, food culture, and lifestyle.
Expect personalities from the past and the present, brands and their story, iconic objects, words and expressions, music, jokes, art, and folklore.
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COOKING TECHNICALITIES
Being cookbooks made in Italy, the recipes in the Simposio cookbooks are in gr, but sided by oz and cup measures.
Servings are for two and duplicable as desired.
A YEAR OF ITALIAN FOOD, TRAVEL, AND CULTURE: SUBSCRIBE TO THE SIMPOSIO COOKBOOKS
You can subscribe and get a Simposio cookbook monthly or every two months if your delivery address is in the USA, UK, Italy, Australia, Spain, Germany, or France.
GIVE a piece of Italy
A PERFECT AUTHENTIC ITALIAN GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS, BIRTHDAYS, MEN, AND WOMEN
A subscription to the SIMPOSIO Italian cookbooks is a perfect gift for Italian men, women, parents, or grandparents. An Italian cookbook collection for lovers of everything Italy, for cooks, and for anyone willing to deepen and treasure their Italian heritage.
Check all the Simposio cookbooks here or learn more about the subscription options here.
GET A SAMPLE OF THE SIMPOSIO COOKBOOKS
Subscribe to the Italian Colors newsletter – a weekly journal of Claudia’s life in Italy (food, everyday life, people, and travel adventures) – and get a sample of the Simposio cookbooks.
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A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
A long time has passed since my brother and I put mayo and ketchup on our spaghetti under the scandalized look of our Italian grandparents, who would label us like little Venezuelan savages, unable to capture the art of Italian cuisine. But let me say they didn’t capture Venezuela’s adventurous spirit either – just to be fair.
Everyone had made an effort. Every time they visited, Nonna and Nonno packed their suitcases with the finest chocolates, pasta, anchovies, olives, etc. Our parents had instituted homemade gnocchi or pasta nights and made us part of the process. My mother had learned everything she could from my Sicilian grandmother’s cooking lessons.
And we did love the Italic food… really.
But there was something we missed, something we didn’t understand.
LIVING IN ROME
Then, the time to redeem our palate came, time to experience authentic Italian cuisine in loco.
When I was eight, we packed, learned the basic vocabulary (fame, mangiare, buono), and settled in Rome. A city where everything would’ve been an adventure, where we would forever be half and half (mango-lovers and pasta-devourers). Where we would be eternal newbies, with the excitement and the sensibility that comes with it.
We finally understood what we hadn’t captured until then: Italian cuisine is not a technique or a few recipes; Italian food is the center of Italian culture. You’ll understand Italy when you understand Italian food, and you’ll understand food when you interiorize the lifestyle.
COOKING REAL ITALIAN FOOD
After 30+ years of Italian cooking and living, I can share with you a few fundamentals of the Italian food culture, the basics you’ll need before diving into the Simposio authentic Italian cookbooks:
- Cook only if and when you want to. If not, make a Caprese salad.
- Take your time: for evaluating and selecting ingredients, for cooking, for setting the table, for letting red wine decant, for intensely savoring the food…
- Listen to your suppliers – butcher, greengrocer, fishmonger… -: they’re an inexhaustible source of knowledge and inspiration.
- Always opt for fresh and seasonal ingredients.
- Enhance the flavor of every single ingredient: don’t let one overcome the other.
- Use many herbs, spices, onion, and garlic, but remember: they’re supporting actors, not the main character.
- Use only good quality wine for cooking: it matters.
- Cultivate your palate: keep it trained by periodically tasting new flavors or combinations. And be aware that only when you are accustomed to quality, you can distinguish good from bad food.
Go grab your Simposio cookbooks, and start your journey through Italy!
Pronti per un po’ d’Italia?
Claudia
