Podcast · Arts & Books

Cooking with an Italian accent

by Giulia Scarpaleggia · English · Arts & Books

Ciao, I am Giulia Scarpaleggia, a Tuscan born and bred country girl, a home cook, a food writer and a photographer. I teach Tuscan cooking classes in my house in the countryside in between Siena and Florence. I’ve been sharing honest, reliable Italian recipes for 14 years now, through my cookbooks a

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 18 min
Latest: 16 Sep 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

16 Sep 2026 · 11 min

The things a recipe can’t tell you

In this episode, I'm taking you into our kitchen in Tuscany to share what sixteen years of cooking classes have taught me about confidence, instinct, and the things that are difficult to capture in a written recipe. We'll meet eight strangers at a café, visit the market without a fixed menu, make fresh pasta, rescue a few kitchen disasters, and eventually sit down to lunch together. I'm also introducing our 2027 cooking class season , including our Market to Table and Vegetable-Forward classes, three-day masterclasses, and a special week-long experience in Tuscany with The Genuine…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

11 Aug 2026 · 25 min
Learning a language through food
Can food help you learn a language? In this episode, I sit down with Italian teacher Margherita Berti to talk about learning Italian through food, curiosity, and everyday life. We discuss why passion is often a better teacher than grammar, how to build confidence when speaking, and the small habits that can help you make Italian part of your daily routine—whether you're planning a trip to Italy or simply dreaming of bringing a little more Italy into your life. Where to find Margherita: Italian Matters , her book Speak the World Italian: History & Culture Through Language and her Instagram…
15 Jun 2026 · 35 min
Inside other people’s pantries
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent , I talk with Melina Hammer , a longtime friend of Letters from Tuscany —food stylist, photographer, recipe developer, award-winning author of A Year at Catbird Cottage , and host at Catbird Cottage in the Hudson Valley—for the first conversation in a new series dedicated to other people’s pantries. We explore the pantry as a place of security, abundance, memory, and possibility, from beans, jams, canned tomatoes, tinned fish, and honey to fermented garlic, tomato confit, and the freezer as a second pantry. A warm conversation about how the…
14 Apr 2026 · 16 min
Vegetables the Italian Way is out. Let's celebrate!
Today we’re celebrating the release of Vegetables the Italian Way: Turning Simple and Fresh into Extraordinary . In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of the book: how it was born from years of cooking classes, conversations, and questions from students and readers. This is not a vegetarian cookbook. It’s a book about how we truly cook and eat in Italy, where vegetables are at the centre of the table, shaped by seasonality, simplicity, and everyday habits. I’ll also share the 5 ideas that define the book and might change the way you cook vegetables at home. ✨ In this episode, you’ll…
18 Feb 2026 · 18 min
The tradition I stand for
After being asked to define my cooking style, I realised that none of the usual labels — creative, healthy-conscious, rule-breaking — truly fit. The word I was looking for was simpler: traditional . In this episode, a natural continuation of the one dedicated to my nonna Marcella, I reflect on the kind of tradition I stand for: one rooted in seasonality, rural knowledge, emotional rituals, and collective memory. From Carnival sweets to grape focaccia in September, from foraging wild herbs to kneading bread that marks the passing of time, this is the tradition I stand for. The podcast now…
S3 · E2 · 30 Jan 2026 · 18 min
Goodbye, nonna Marcella
After a long break, Cooking with an Italian Accent is back. In this episode, I share a personal letter and a goodbye to my nonna Marcella, who passed away last year at almost 97. Through old family videos, memories of Easter lunches, homemade tagliatelle, and everyday gestures, I reflect on how she shaped my way of cooking, eating, and understanding tradition. This is an episode about food memories, grief and gratitude, and about tradition as something alive — not frozen in time, but carried forward through cooking. The podcast now lives inside the newsletter on Substack, where you’ll find…
S3 · E1 · 6 Feb 2025 · 22 min
Italy in the low season
Italy is often imagined in the golden glow of summer. But what about winter ? In this episode, we explore ten vignettes of Italy in the low season —from misty medieval towns to empty beaches, from seasonal markets to winter festivals. Let’s paint a different picture of Italy, one filled with mystery, comfort food, and quiet beauty. This episode is hosted on Substack, so join the conversation here: https://julskitchen.substack.com/p/italy-in-the-low-season This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit…
S2 · E7 · 2 Aug 2023 · 17 min
Why I’m asking you to skip Florence on your next trip to Tuscany
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, I’m asking you to skip Florence on your next trip to Tuscany. I’m sharing my two cents on tourism and overcrowded destinations, but I would love to know your thoughts on this, as well. We talk about travelling during the low season and your option to slow down and enjoy the provincial life of a small town. We introduce our immersive three-day seasonal cooking masterclass: https://en.julskitchen.com/tuscan-cooking-classes#threeday Our Colle Val d’Elsa foodie guide: https://en.julskitchen.com/other/travel/where-to-eat-in-colle-val-d-elsa So…
S2 · E6 · 15 Feb 2023 · 14 min
Last but not least [Special]
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, after a year of absence, I tell you a little bit more about the things that have happened: - This podcast is not dead, it is just on a break. - Our newsletter on Substack, Letters from Tuscany , is where most of our writing and recipes will live from now on. - For the past two years, we’ve been working on a new cookbook, Cucina Povera, The Italian Way of Transforming Humble Ingredients into Unforgettable Meals . It will be released in April 2023. So now listen to the episode and join the conversation online on our newsletter…
S2 · E5 · 15 Dec 2021 · 31 min
2x05 - All about the traditional Tuscan sweet treats [Christmas Special]
The best way to understand the Tuscan pastry art is to have a walk in Siena with an open mind, following the trail of spices, paying attention to the colours and to the ingredients of the baked goods arranged in the shop windows of bakeries, cafés, and pastry shops. The Tuscan pastry art isn’t show stopping, elegant, refined or elaborate, as you would say of the French patisserie or oven of the Southern Italian pastry art of Sicily and Naples. In this episode, we will delve into the Tuscan pastry art, discovering how seasonal it is, how strongly related to Cucina Povera, and how it shows a…
S2 · E4 · 17 Aug 2021 · 35 min
2x04 - Life in Salento: in conversation with Nina Gigante
In today’s episode we’re travelling southward, towards the heel of the boot of the Italian peninsula, Salento. Today’s guest is Nina Gigante, a wellness, food, and travel journalist, and a qualified holistic nutritionist. While we were in Salento to visit Tommaso’s family, I was continuously texting Nina to have advice on where to go, shop, and, guess what, eat. Thanks to her tips we discovered my favourite brioche in Salento. In the following conversation, you’ll hear us talking about what is home for Nina, what she likes about Mediterranean cuisine, and what to see, where to eat, and what…
S2 · E3 · 10 Aug 2021 · 44 min
2x03 - Trentino and mountain life: in conversation with Vea Carpi of Mas del Saro
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, we travel to the mountains to visit my friend Vea Carpi. She is a cook, a farmer, a sourdough baker, and passionate about wool. She has a maso up in the Trentino mountains and an agritourism with her family. We are both from Tuscany, but we met there, in her farmstead, where we were greeted as part of her family. We attended one of her sourdough baking courses and learnt about her life in the mountains. In the following conversation, you’ll hear us talking about bread and wool, and what they have in common, about Alpine cuisine and local…
S2 · E2 · 3 Aug 2021 · 41 min
2x02 - Liguria e Cinque Terre: in conversation with Enrica Monzani of A small kitchen in Genoa
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent, as promised, we have a guest that will guide us through one of the most beautiful Italian regions. This region recently filled your imagination with postcard-like maritime views, bowls of trofie al pesto and Vespa rides thanks to the latest Disney Pixar movie, Luca. Today we’ll go to Liguria. Today’s guest is Enrica Monzani, known online as A small kitchen in Genoa, food writer, soon cookbook author, and cooking class instructor in her beautiful hometown, Genoa. We talk about Liguria, Cinque Terre, and other Ligurian hidden gems, about…
S2 · E1 · 27 Jul 2021 · 40 min
2x01 - Let's celebrate: Happy (40th) Birthday Giulia!
This is the first episode of our second season, a special summer edition, a short collection of 4 episodes. In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent I switched role and asked our friend Valentina Dainelli, known on line as ToomuchTuscany, to be the host of this conversation: I felt it would have been much more interesting for you than listening to a soliloquy. The occasion is my 40th birthday, and we had a little online celebration. We talked about recipes and cakes, about Livia, about our job and how the pandemic affected our business. Then, we moved to talk about Tuscany and…
18 May 2021 · 28 min
EP46 - A celebration of Spring in a Tuscan kitchen
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent we celebrate the spring season, its produce, with asparagus, fresh peas, fava beans and monk’s bears. We celebrate fresh herbs, one of my favourite ingredients in the kitchen, and the magic of foraged wild flowers, like robinia flowers and elderflowers. This is also the last episode of the first series of Cooking with an Italian Accent. We’ll take a break to work on our cookbook, and we’ll be back during the summer with a special edition, a short collection of 4 episodes to celebrate together the season of In the meantime, you’ll find us on…
20 Mar 2021 · 16 min
EP45 - How to maintain a long-term relationship with your blog
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent I’m going back over our past 12 years of blogging, and I’ll share with you the reasons why we still believe in blogs, and why we love it so much. I’m also sharing my tips to maintain a long-term relationship with your blog: - Write about something relevant for you. - Be authentic. - Show up consistently. - It is ok to take some time off. - Be patient. At the end of this episode, I’m also introducing our new project, a weekly subscription-based newsletter. Join our newsletter here: https://julskitchen.substack.com/subscribe Find me online at…
5 Mar 2021 · 18 min
EP44 - On risotto
In this episode of Cooking with an Italian Accent I’m sharing why I love risotto, and why I find it is a therapeutic recipe. When making risotto, let your senses guide you. Risotto is also a perfect example of the physical theory of everyday cooking, The Time-Work Continuum, shared by Mark Bittman in 2014. I’m also sharing the recipe for a seafood risotto, just to show you how all the elements are in a perfect symphony. The seafood risotto comes close to a seaside trip in terms of satisfaction and sheer happiness. You have the salt, fat, acid and umami in one dish, your seafood risotto.…
23 Dec 2020 · 13 min
EP43 - Food and motherhood
From the last episode of this podcast, a few things have changed. Summer has gone, leaving space to a bright, mild Tuscan autumn, and now it is winter, well, it’s Christmas in a few hours. On August, the 28th, we welcomed Livia, our baby girl, into this world. It has been long, exhausting, and emotional beyond words. The old life, the 2019 life, seems so far away for more than one reason. I barely remember how it was before, as so many things happened that turned our life upside down. Food, as always, has been the red thread through the multiple levels of change, the key to understand those…
17 Aug 2020 · 1 hr 9 min
EP42 - In conversation with: Irina Georgescu, author of Carpathia
Before a well-deserved pause to welcome our baby girl into the world, and to get used to a completely new life, I’m so happy to share the latest episode of Cooking with an Italian accent, a conversation I had a few weeks ago with Irina Gergescu about her cookbook, Carpathia. I like how she intertwines recipes, traditions and superstitions, like when she mentions garlic, or when she says that eating horseradish before Easter will bring you health all year round, or when she explains that Romanian people welcome official guests with bread and salt, the first to celebrate an alliance, the…
20 Jul 2020 · 17 min
EP41 – Everything you want to know about pound cake
In today’s episode we’ll be talking in details about the pound cake, known as quattro quarti in Italian. This is probably the cake I make more often, especially in its version made with extra virgin olive oil, the most appreciated during our cooking classes, but also the one I rely on when I don’t have a clear idea on what to bake. The original pound cake contained one pound each of eggs, sugar, flour and butter. Hence its English name, pound cake, and its French or Italian name, quattro quarti, four quarters. What you need is therefore a scale to weigh the eggs, with their shell. The weight…
12 Jul 2020 · 18 min
EP40 - Get to know us better
We reached the 40th episode of our podcast "Cooking with an Italian Accent"! So it's time to celebrate and to recap what we’ve done so far in these 15 months spent together, what you liked the most, why we love this podcast so much and how it perfectly integrates in all that we do. We’ll talk also about who we are, what we like and what is going to happen soon in our lives! Join us for a little celebration! Read more: https://en.julskitchen.com/podcast/episode-40-get-to-know-us-better This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus…
11 Jun 2020 · 11 min
EP39 - Three books about Italian cooking you must have
Today we are talking about cookbooks. When I was organizing my cookbooks on the bookshelves, I rediscovered some favourites from the past that needed some more love, and realised there are cookbooks that I barely opened after the initial I-desperately-need-this-book enthusiasm. So, I thought I would share some of my favourite cookbooks here on the podcast, as you might find them interesting, too. Today we’re talking about cookbooks on Italian cuisine, but do not expect the last cookbooks published by new famous food writers, we’re going back to the past: in this episode, we will talk about…
27 May 2020 · 10 min
EP38 - Our virtual Tuscan cooking class
Juls’ Kitchen is a family business. Tommaso and I work together to teach classes, develop recipes for clients, taking photos, producing the podcast, and writing the blog and the newsletter, along with cookbooks and articles. It has its highs and lows, but this is our job, and career. We do not have a backup plan, and, to be honest, after the hard work it took to get where we are, I do not want to change my job, as this is what brings me joy, what I am good at. That’s why we had to rethink our offer to change it according to the completely new situation. I am sure we will be back teaching…
15 May 2020 · 55 min
EP37 - In conversation with: Regula Ysewijn, food writer
This is a special episode with a dear friend, Regula Ysewijn. We met in London in 2011, at the Food Blogger Connect, and since then we’ve become best friends, supporting each other through life and work endeavours. Today we’re here to celebrate her new cookbook, Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. This book is Regula’s love letter to British baking, and to Britain, its bakeries and shops, its traditions and ingredients. We’re talking about what it takes to write a cookbook with a solid food history background, something she is an expert about, but also about how geography and weather…
24 Apr 2020 · 31 min
EP36 - How do you learn to cook?
One of the few positive aspects of this eternal lockdown is that I had the chance to learn new recipes and techniques. Usually, I am too busy trying to respect deadlines, juggling cooking classes and assignments, so I just play it safe. Week after week, I cook those old reliable recipes that are part of my cooking repertoire. Comfort comes from repeating a ritual, a set of flavours. But where is the excitement of learning a new dish? Of discovering a new technique? This feeling of excitement and adventure probably is not shared by everyone who is approaching cooking for the first time. If…
17 Apr 2020 · 12 min
EP35 - Cooking during the lockdown
I didn’t think my way of cooking would change much during the lockdown. I thought I was already quite organised, with a well-stocked pantry, responsible in using my ingredients and leftovers and creative when it comes to improvising. Yet, in more than a month of lockdown, I noticed some changes that made me reflect on my approach to cooking. First of all, now I am cooking mainly for the two of us: this is the first time since we’re together, it feels very intimate. In this episode, we will talk about how I reorganized my pantry and my freezer, about the importance of planning ahead and…
3 Apr 2020 · 30 min
EP34 - What is comfort food for you?
There are two different aspects of comfort food: on one side, there’s the food that gives you comfort and pleasure when you eat it, like pappa al pomodoro, on the other side, the many foods that give you solace, a respite from the news, from heavy thoughts, from comparison, when you cook them: just think about bread. In this episode, we will explore different comfort foods, related to childhood memories or to personal achievements, from pappa al pomodoro to chicken meatballs, from rice pudding to risotto. I think comfort food is also extremely influenced by culture, as often we tend to…
24 Feb 2020 · 11 min
EP33 - What is food for me
After 11 years of blogging, a love born by stirring a ciambellone on a kitchen stool with mum, 5 cookbooks, a podcast, countless projects never launched or lost along the way, and numerous dreams kept among the pages of a notebook, I keep asking myself what is food for me. I haven’t grown tired of writing recipes. For a while, I wondered if it was enough, if I wasn’t dumbing down a topic bigger than me. Then I realised that food is enough for itself and, at the same time, it crosses borders. Food has been an instrument of personal growth and self-affirmation, a lens through which I could…
1 Feb 2020 · 18 min
EP32 - Chestnuts and chestnut flour in Tuscan cuisine
Today buying good quality chestnut flour can be difficult, and it is certainly more expensive than it used to be. A good local organic stone ground wheat flour costs about 2€ a kilo. If you want to buy an organic, stone ground chestnut flour made with local chestnuts, that flour can cost from 10€ up to 15€ a kilo! It used to be the flour of poor people, of those who could not afford, or get hold of, wheat flour, and now it is considered a delicacy, as it is a gluten free flour, very nutrituous, rich in fibers, minerals and vitamins. Yet, chestnut flour is one of the most fundamental…
24 Jan 2020 · 19 min
EP31 - Celebrating the citrus season
Today I am here to celebrate the citrus season, with their brightness, the joy they add to cold winter days, the liveliness they lend to rich dishes, or the depth of flavour they give to the simplest salads. In this episode, I’m sharing how I use them, when I’m not munching on clementines directly from a paper bag coming home from the market, juicing oranges and bergamots in the morning, or zesting a lemon in a cake batter. You’ll find recipes for fresh dressings for pasta, like lemon tagliolini, recipes for your main courses, from beef skewers to guinea fowl with orange and roasted sea…

About Cooking with an Italian accent

Cooking with an Italian accent is a English arts & books podcast from Giulia Scarpaleggia. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Giulia Scarpaleggia
Language: English
Category: Arts & Books
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 18 min
Latest episode: 16 Sep 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1451196235
Rights: Giulia Scarpaleggia

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