Whether it be a handpainted bowl from Puglia, a needlepoint tablecloth from Veneto, or a pasta cutter from Umbria, items that have traditionally been associated with the home of the Italian matriarch are finding fresh cachet with the style set.
“Enough distance has passed [to celebrate it] because that generation, after the war, couldn’t get out quick enough; they wanted to work [but] they didn’t have further education,” says Bennison, whose bestselling cookbook,, brings these nonnas’ stories to life. “Someone we filmed [making pasta] in Sicily recently was a cow herd when she was younger; [she] helped her dad on the farm by day and wrote poetry in the evenings.
Nonnas were—and are—“the cornerstone of Italian gastronomy,” says Bennison. After hearing enough chefs saying that they were inspired by their nonna’s cooking, she decided to find the women they were talking about and give them their moment. Many were surprised. “I mean, it’s like opening a can of beans [to them],” she says.
And it’s picking up pace. Recently, Zara Home contacted Bennison to ask if her Pasta Grannies could be the stars of its new homewares collection, having seen a feature on the cover of the Spanish newspaper,. Bennison agreed on the condition that actual nonnas would feature and be compensated, and so Maria Argnani from Faenza, Leondina Micolucci from Brisighella, and Nadia Bassignani from Genova are.
It is, of course, only apt that these women and their lifestyles are celebrated as the custodians of nonna-core. For her part, Bettina, now a nonna herself, is “hugely flattered” that her daughter’s generation is finding charm in her Italian traditions. “You don’t expect young people to be interested in old shapes and things that are still handmade, so I am incredibly proud and honored that people want things that are true, which are real, and that we can all share,” she says.
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