An Unexpectedly Beautiful Day Cooking with Nonna Italia

 Nikita here 👋 

This blog doesn't really follow the format of one blog per city/area, but we had a really special day that I wanted to share more in depth. It was by far my favorite day in Rome.

Cooking classes are something that I really love to incorporate in my travels. I think it's a lovely way to learn about the food, the ingredients, and the culture behind a cuisine in addition to the traditional dining experience. Doing one in Italy was a no brainer for me. Since we had eight days in Rome, I looked to find one there and thought it could be nice to break up the constant walking, the heat, and the chaos of the city. I stumbled upon a "Cooking with grandma" class on Airbnb Experiences that caught my eye. It was located 30 minutes away from Rome and was hosted by the nonnas of the town. It seemed personable and fun, so we decided to go ahead and take the plunge.

What we thought was just a cooking class turned out to be a lot more. I loved learning about the people of Palombara Sabina, the traditions, and of course the pasta!

Nonna Italia and our class!

We arrived early to the beautiful medieval town of Palombara Sabina, which was named because they used to raise pigeons here. We met Sabrina our wonderful interpreter, who gave us a rundown on the town. It was evident as we were exploring the town that they were setting up for a cherry festival. We found out it's the town's 97th festival, called Sagra delle Cerase, and it's the oldest festival in Europe dedicated to the fruit. It truly is the event of the year, and there is a ton of pride among the community to decorate the streets and participate in their annual contests. We were a couple days early and unfortunately wouldn't be able to attend the actual festival, a con of being well-planned travelers, but we were still able to feel the excitement in the streets.

Decorations around the town for the cherry festival

One really special thing we saw is a nonna preparing the traditional dress of the town in the square. Every year there is a contest for the best dress in this style, and she won the contest last year! She hand stitches each dress and has made 30 of them in her lifetime. She was sharing how this is a passion of hers, and she loves doing it, which felt really special to us that she was able to share that joy with us. The detail in the dress reminded me of the detail I see in traditional Indian wear. For example, there was a specific way to pleat the lace to ensure it didn't fall apart when dancing, similar to the pleats I see in a sari. Things may have gotten lost in translation, but it seemed that the winner gets to present cherries to the pope! The traditional dress isn't worn much daily anymore, but this festival is a way to honor long standing traditions.

The town's traditional dress

After walking around the town for a bit, it was time to make pasta! The space we were making pasta in had a cave within, which is very common for the homes in the town, since in medieval times they didn't have refrigerators, so these caves acted like them. We met our teacher Nonna Italia, who had prepared some bruschetta for us with some of the freshest tomatoes I've ever had. We spent the first part of the class learning how to prepare the pasta. We rolled out the dough to make tagliatelle, ravioli, and fettuccine. It was a really involved experience, especially with the fettuccine, which required extreme precision and some power. 

After preparing all the shapes, Nonna Italia took over and prepared the sauces and cooked the pasta. We had a really lovely lunch with our group, which is what I found the most special part of the day. We chatted, drank delicious wine, and ate some of the best pasta we have had in Italy. Nonna Italia had been learning to make pasta since she was fourteen from her mother, who was extremely strict about the techniques, and now she gets to share that with her grandson and all of us. This is her passion, much like the other nonna we met with the dress. We could genuinely feel the love she has for what she does. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and we had smiles on our faces from her stories. I was surprised to hear that when she was getting married that there were still dowries, and some items commonly a part of the dowry are a coral necklace, the rolling pin, and cutting board. It was really interesting to me to see the number of parallels between Italian and Indian culture.

We learned more about the cooking class in general. Apparently, it was one of the first Airbnb Experiences on the platform, started by one of the nonnas' granddaughters, who manages the business. She has taken her nonna to the U.S. to make pasta for Airbnb, they've been on the Today Show, and have some affiliation with Whoopi Goldberg too. Their latest endeavor is a Mediterranean cruise where the nonnas will be sharing pasta-making with the guests. Nonna Italia will be going later in the summer, and she was just so excited to go on this adventure and have a vacation away from her husband (lol).

The day was over and we headed back filled with pasta and conversation. Nonna Italia cried as we left because she loved having our group with her. We loved spending the day and reflecting back, these are some of the experiences I was hoping to get from our time abroad. The world feels a bit smaller. And while there are so many despicable things happening in the world right now, I felt a sense of love from this corner here in Palombara Sabina.