Saturday, February 19, 10:00 am
Members $50, guests $60

Wouldn’t we all like to experience the life of an Italian contessa? While it is too late to secure yourself a title—the Italian Republic abolished noble titles in 1947—you can still learn to cook and eat and drink like royalty at this Sicilian workshop. Led by Anna Tasca Lanza, the daughter of Conte and Contessa Giuseppe and Franca Tasca d’Almerita, this workshop will highlight the traditional food and wines of her native Sicily.

Lanza attended finishing school in Switzerland, and after her coming out ball back home at Villa Tasca at age 18, she married the Marchese di Villa Urrutia, Veneslao Lanza di Mazzarino (but you can call him Vinces). They had one daughter, Fabrizia. After Fabrizia went away to college, Lanza went to work for her family’s estate and winery, Regaleali, which they have owned since 1830. In 1989 Lanza opened a cooking school there, a turning point in her life. She began traveling in the United States and elsewhere, spreading the word about Regaleali’s fine wines and Sicily’s great food. She has since written six books, including The Heart of Sicily (Clarkson Potter, 1993), The Flavors of Sicily (Clarkson Potter, 1996), and most recently, The Garden of Endangered Fruit, which she self-published in 2004.

Everyone who sets foot into the Casa Vecchie kitchen on the Regaleali estate where Lanza holds her cooking classes falls in love with the place. In Condé Nast Traveler last July, Gully Wells explained why six days wasn’t enough time there. “I stood, inhaling the chamomile, listening to the birds, shading my eyes from the dazzling noonday sun, not wanting to disturb them and—more selfishly—wishing that I could imprint this scene in my mind (and nose, ears, eyes, and the soles of my feet) forever.” Wells described Lanza as “one of Sicily’s finest cooks,” and called Regaleali “one of the best-known wineries in Sicily.” Describing the scene in the vineyards, Wells wrote, “The hills were covered in brilliant red poppies, yellow wheat, and infinite rows of green grape vines. It is the vines that have made Regaleali famous.”

By the end of this workshop you’ll know why Anna Tasca Lanza has become Sicily’s culinary ambassador to the world and, courtesy of Winebow—an importer that represents over 80 wine estates throughout Italy and has been importing fine Italian wine into the United States for 25 years—you’ll know exactly why the Regaleali wines are famous. The only thing you might not have when you leave is a better idea of the life of an Italian contessa. For that you’ll have to sign up for Lanza’s classes in Sicily.