My Italian Family
‘My Italian Family’, is a culinary and family journey across Italy.
Passion, food and family is the glue that binds Italian culture together. We all feel it when we visit. We all taste it when we share a meal. In that simple plate of food is life, history, love, and an intense sense of belonging.
My Italian Family embraces the intricacies of family combined with the beauty of food that creates the magic of the restaurant as a family business, as a family lifestyle, the Italian way.
From Florence to Venice. From Genoa on the rich Ligurian coast, we experience true Italy through the most unique set of restaurants - some of the oldest, and most traditional - the real hidden gems.
We meet the families behind these restaurants, creating authentic home cooking with recipes enjoyed by their family through the generations.
We share their laughter, their tears, their history, their values, their purpose and their passion to continue to create their families’ dreams.
Spilling intimate family secrets across the dining table heaving with food, My Italian Family inspires us with family stories that are as robust as the love they have for one another and the love that they add into each and every one of their treasured family recipes.
11 Episodes
Lanterna Blu
25minEpisode 1 - Lanterna BluIn every family there is a fighter, that person that steps up to the plate when things get tough. Max at Lanterna Blu is the warrior of the Fiorillo family, rescuing the family business from the brink. His father Toninno is a showman and proud, he went against the better judgment of his family and made some financial decisions that were unsound. Max was living overseas…
Poggio Alloro
25minA love story set against the backdrop of the towers of San Gimignano in Tuscany. Russ, a tattooed Texan meets Sara a traditional farm-raised Italian girl and for thirteen years they deny their true feelings. Russ’s parents met Sara on her family’s farmstay in Italy and invited her to stay with them in the US. Russ was used to his parents bringing home ‘interesting’ people for dinner and was…
Zeffirino’s
25minWhat do Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren and the Pope all have in common? They have all dined at Zeffirino’s. Located in the diverse city of Genoa on the Ligurian coast, the restaurant has been operating since 1939 because the Bisso family know food and know how to sell it. Marco, the third generation to work in the restaurant is keen to preserve the family traditions but understands that they must…
Al Gatto Nero
25minThe Bovo family have owned the small restaurant Al Gatto Nero in Burano, Venice for three generations. From humble beginnings as a bar for fisherman it has become a world-renowned Michelin awarded restaurant. Massi, the third generation, works everyday side by side with his father Ruggero and they rarely see eye to eye. Massi is a change agent with a Jekyll and Hyde personality constantly…
Ristorante Giglio
25minThree chefs in one kitchen all with equal standing, sounds unbelievable but that’s Ristorante Giglio. Located within the walls of Lucca, Tuscany, the restaurant has more challenges than power play in the kitchen. Paola, restaurant owner and mother of one of the chefs, rules her domain with a firm hand. The three chefs are friends and trailblazers, dragging Paola and the people of Lucca…
Il Latini
25minIn Florence there are thousands of fancy and chic restaurants and Il Latini is not one of them! Set in a small alley right in the heart of the city, this trattoria has fed the people of Italy since 1911 and the menu has not changed. The three members of the Latini family that run the trattoria work extremely hard and with their close-knit team feed up to five hundred people a day. When the…
La Pietra
25minWhen a parent dies, the rest of the family struggles to go on. When the parent that dies is the mother whose restaurant has been in the family since 1821 then the struggle becomes insurmountable. Giancarlo and his father Piero have managed to find a way forward without their beloved Mimma. The small restaurant La Pietra in the tiny town of Roccalbegna, Tuscany appears as an oasis in an…
Da O Vittorio
25minLocated in Recco, a small town near Genoa on the Ligurian coast and bombed 27 times during WWII, family-owned restaurant Da O Vittorio is a story of survival. Six members of the family work in the restaurant and each one feels indebted to the generation before for their sacrifices and dedication. Working in a family restaurant that spans five generations is more than a job, it is a commitment…
Pagnanelli
25minWho would have thought a journey by ship from Australia to London in the 60’s would have resulted in four sons, the continuation of a family restaurant dynasty and an enduring Italian love affair? Aspiring Australian theatre actress Jane and young Italian chef Aurelio met in Castelgandolfo just outside of Rome one hot summer and the scene was set. 50 years later Jane and Aurelio have handed…
Cacciani
25minBombed during WWII, Cacciani was transformed from a ruin to a sophisticated trattoria with balconies overlooking Rome and tables for fine dining. With a vineyard for wine, olive groves for oil and a farm for produce, the Cacciani family have for generations provided a place for Romans to come for a couple of hours of fresh air and simple food to eat and local wine to drink. Cacciani today is…
Hostaria Vecchia
25minInfluenced by Proust’s writings of ‘À la recherche du temps perdu’ or as he interprets, ‘Remembrance of Things Past’ Massimo Magoni believes that what runs in his DNA led him to realise his passion for food. Coming from two generations of restaurateurs it can be said that Massimo has "catering in the blood", although he started his career on a different path. At thirty years old Massimo was an…