Letizia Mattiacci, author of A Kitchen With A View at Genius Loci
Letizia’s cheerful book cover
“Can you recommend a good cookbook, Mary?” guests ask during our Cooking Classes or our Gourmet Tastings at Genius Loci. Just as invariable as the question – was my disappointing answer: “No, I really can’t”. Never had I found a general cookbook that fully understood the why,what, and how we eat in Umbria. For those of us who have lived here with Italian husbands and lives, the cookbooks in English just don’t “get it”.
A Kitchen With A View is SUCH a welcome exception! Written in English by an articulately intelligent, highly educated, expert cook from Perugia with years of experience teaching foreigners the secrets of Italian cooking at her Cooking School above Assisi, Letizia instinctively knows how to address what is puzzling and what will benefit from some extra explanation. Her useful tips, insights and writing style are straightforward, pragmatic and ever so clear. The photography of the food and of Umbria by Letizia’s husband, Ruurd, is spectacular and adds yet another layer of pleasure to this exquisitely beautiful book.
As a modern and extremely busy woman, wife and mother herself, Letizia offers ideas and recipes (with seasonal variations) which won’t keep you in the kitchen for hours. This is not Grandma’s cookbook, but a modern approach of someone who knows the importance of eating well…but without undue fuss.
What a relief! Finally… I can unabashedly answer that most commonly recurring request, “Can you recommend a good cookbook, Mary?” …with a resounding and convinced “Yes”!
For ordering information, please email: FTeditore@gmail.com
For our treasured guests, the book is also on view and available for purchase at Genius Loci.
