Rome native G. Franco Romagnoli first introduced American television viewers to Italian cooking back in the 1960s, when he starred with his late wife Margaret on two television series for PBS-TV, including “The Romagnolis’ Table.” The first cooking show of its kind led the couple to national fame, during which they wrote nine cookbooks, toured the world giving cooking demonstrations, and opened several restaurants in the Boston area.
Romagnoli continued to teach cooking and to write articles for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Gourmet magazine, Food & Wine, and The Atlantic Monthly. He remarried in 1998 and now he and his wife Gwen present an unforgettable tour of Italy’s lesser known, secret jewels: trout from the mountain streams of Val d’Aosta; the cannelloni and wild venison of Tuscany; risotto with frogs’ legs from Lake Orta; couscous with capers from Pantelleria; truffles from Alba, as well as cultural history such as the tuna hunting ritual mattanza on the Egadi islands and olive oil pressing in Puglia. Sharing the geography, history, and art of each region as well as the character of its people, the Romagnolis bring little-known Italy to life—and to our tables—with full-color photographs to please travelers, food lovers and armchair dreamers.
