All recipies come from two ladies originally from Bologna and Ferrara provinces. I feel priviliged that I had a unique opportunity to know the traditional Italian kitchen from two neighbours who over time became my dear friends. The ladies I had chance to learn from were both over sixty-five years old, had unlimited time and willingness to share their knowledge and skills with an immigrant (me). For me this was a deeply touching experience: I was taken by hand and brought back more than fifty years to the poor villages of Emilia-Romagna.