Silvana Lanzetta
Artisan Pasta Maker & Teacher - Food WriterHave you been to Italy and loved the fresh pasta you ate there? Would you love to keep eating that yumminess at home, but can’t find the same quality and delicious taste anywhere else?
Don’t worry: you are in the right place!
Ciao! I’m Silvana, a 4th generation artisan pasta maker from Naples, currently living in London.
My great grandad started a pastificio in Torre Annunziata (a town next to Pompeii) back in 1893. His daughter, my beloved nonna Rosa, took over in 1927.
I came in the picture a several decades later: when I was a teensy weensy 5 year old, my nonna decided I was a bit of an handful, and put me to make pasta in order to save the house from destruction!
As I grew up, I also helped in the pastificio, until it sadly closed in 1995.
I started teaching how to make pasta quite a few years later, in 2013, because I was frustrated by the confusion and misinformation there is around pasta, pasta making, and Italian food in general.
To this day, my biggest achievements are: appearing on BBC2 as a pasta expert, publishing recipe on The Local Italy, holding pasta making demonstrations in Harrods, and being included in a roundup of best workshops in Britain by the newspaper “i.”
Some of my favourite things
My Favourite Pasta Recipes
Ragu Bolognese
Ragu Genovese
Pasta alla Puttanesca
Ragu Napoletano
Pasta alla Papalina
My Favourite Books
The Alchemist (P. Coelo)
Orlando (V. Woolf)
Les Miserables (V. Hugo)
Neverending Story (M. Ende)
My Favourite Italian Holiday Destinations
Santa Maria di Castellabate
Agropoli
Santa Margherita Ligure
Gaeta
Castiglione sul Lago
My Favourite Food
Tomatoes
Buffalo Mozzarella
Parma Ham
Piadina
Gnocchi
Pizza
My Favourite Colours
Maroon
Carmine Red
Imperial Purple
Black
Gold
My Favourite Italian Singers
Zucchero
Mina
Lucio Dalla
Gianna Nannini
Eduardo Bennato
My Favourite International Cuisines
Japanese
Moroccan
French
Swedish
Greek
Indian
Languages I Speak
English
French
Spanish (badly)
Swedish (even worse!)
My Favourite Pasta Tools
Wooden Rolling Pin (100cm)
Wooden Board
Brass Wheel Cutters
Gnocchi Board
Spider Strainer
Official Bio
Silvana Lanzetta is a 4th generation artisan pasta maker from Naples.
Silvana started making pasta at 5 years old with the help of her grandmother Rosa Russo. As she grew up, she started to help in the family pastificio every school holidays.
Silvana has never done any formal education in pasta making or cookery, but learned everything first hand during the 17 years spent with her grandmother pastificio, until its closure in 1995.
In 2013 Silvana started to give private pasta making lessons, and her business grew over the years. Among her achievements, she has been featured as pasta maker expert in the BBC2 Inside the Factory, she has been holding pasta making demonstration in Harrods, and she was included in a roundup of best workshops in Britain by the newspaper i.
