Valentina Solfrini is an award-winning recipe developer and writer.  She grew up in the Italian countryside before moving to New York City to study design, where she quickly found her health reacting to the new city in a less-than-ideal way. As she says, “When you grow up in the countryside, you get privileges that you do not realize are privileges until you actually leave the countryside.” Upon returning to her Italian roots, she began feeling vibrant and well again and in her new cookbook, Naturally Vegetarian: Recipes and Stories from My Italian Family Farm, she shares some of the fresh, healthy Italian food that she nourishes herself with daily. 

“With Italian cooking, it’s easy to fall into the pasta/lasagne/prosciutto stereotype,” she says. “But while it is nice to sit out in an osteria with a bowl of spaghetti and a glass of wine every now and then, most meals in Italy are homecooked and include tasty vegetables.” We reached out to Valentina to learn a few more Italian secrets to vitality and happiness that anyone can slip into their daily lives, no matter their location.