About Marzia

Marzia’s love affair with Italian cuisine was sparked at a young age – as soon as she was tall enough to reach her mother’s countertops.

The Langley, B.C resident was born just outside of Naples in a small town called Sant’ Antimo, which had a population of 24,000 people at the time.

Her parents would soon move her family to a small rural village in Northern Italy called Traona – a town with less than 1,500 residents, but plenty of cows, chickens, and rabbits.

Marzia’s childhood in the rolling hillside was a joyous one.  She got to eat fresh local food, daily, and the best cheese in the entire world. Her mother was also happy for the extra hand in the kitchen and with helping to care for her two brothers.

Summers were spent in Southern Italy at her Nona’s beach house. There were always plenty of cousins, aunts and uncles around.

Nonna made sure she did her chores and helped with cleaning up the house each morning.

Her golden rule for women was: “Man have to be happy, so all the ladies in the house have to clean up, make breakfast, get lunch ready while the men are at the beach.”

Nonna instilled the virtue of hard work, but also the importance of living well.

 After lunch was eaten and all the dishes were cleaned and put away, it was time to unwind and have some fun. This meant heading to the beach, sun tanning, eating appetizers – living la dolce vita.

At the end of August it was time for the tradition of canning all those ruby-red tomatoes off the vine with Nona.

This would leave her family with enough fresh sauce to last the winter.

The end of summer was always sad. It was never easy to say goodbye to her big funny family.  

Speaking of family…

In 1995, she‘d meet Dan – a quirky Canadian traveller who would set her heart on fire and change her destiny.

He was from Vancouver, which at the time, Marzia, nor anyone in her family knew very little about.

Marzia thought he was a bit strange, especially since he seemed to enjoy the rain.

Note: If you are a true Italian, you don’t like the rain one little bit!!!

Long story short, they both fell in L.O.V.E, and in 2003, Dan convinced her to move to Vancouver.

The lifestyle change was difficult in the beginning, but in the end, it proved to be the best decision for the couple. They now live happily ever after in the suburbs of Langley, B.C with their two beautiful children.

Today, Marzia enjoys teaching her passion of cooking authentic Italian cuisine and sharing her stories of growing up in Italy. Her dream is to one day soon, open a cooking school.

She hasn’t stopped missing her Mom, Nona, aunt and all her large family in Italy, but she is proud of the little family and life she has made for herself on the West Coast. She knows everyone back home is proud she is bringing a little slice of Italy to Canada.

 

 

Isabella and nonna

 

My first cooking class with some wonderful ladies that now are my friends.