A
driana Trigiani is the bestselling author of 17 books published in 36 countries around the world. She’s also a playwright, television writer/producer and filmmaker. In 2014, she even wrote and directed the film version of her novel Big Stone Gap, shot entirely on location in her Virginia hometown. Just last month, Trigiani visited Saints John Neumann and Maria Goretti High School here in Philadelphia to promote her latest book, Kiss Carlo. The story is perfect for summer reading - filled with romance, buried secrets, mistaken identities, broken hearts and true love. If you want to be transported to Italy, New York and even Pennsylvania this summer, pick up a copy of her new novel. Characters are brought to life in the Italian-American culture of South Philadelphia in 1949. “South Philly is the home of my cousins on my grandfather Michael Trigiani’s side of the family. When my dad was a boy in the 1940s, he went to lots of professional baseball games - loving every moment,” Trigiani begins to explain her ties to our neighborhood. “I also have cousins in Ambler. For diehards who read all my books, Monica Spadoni makes an appearance in every novel. She’s now Monica Matthews and was for many years, a schoolteacher in Ambler.” Trigiani grew up in Roseto, Pennsylvania, and spent many Sundays visiting her family in Philadelphia. “I remember the fountain of the seahorses when I was a little girl; I don’t remember that it was in good shape in the 1970s. We visited the zoo and I loved it. I remember the neighborhoods and the way the streets circled around the museum, very Parisian, but of course, also Roman, so very Italian.” Trigiani’s Italian upbringing and family traditions also inspired her to write a cookbook with her sister Mary Yolanda called Cooking with My Sisters. “I have four sisters. Along with my mom, we wrote a family cookbook that scratched the surface of our treasury. We all love to cook and
bake and we wanted to share some of our legacy with you. The Philly folks know what I’m talking about here - bits and scraps of handwritten paper filled with recipes are handed down, more precious than gold!” For Trigiani and her family, and many South Philadelphia families, food is legacy and connection. Their recipes, in ritual and presentation, express a certain kind of love, she explains. “Good doctors confirm that the social connections we make when we sit down and eat together make our hearts healthy and strong!” She also has dear friends in South Philly, including Gina Casella, who is the president of AT Escapes. “[At Escapes] is our tour company where readers can walk in the steps of the characters, whether in New York City on a walking tour or in various regions of Italy, or Gibraltar, or Greece, the UK and beyond. Customers can have an unforgettable life experience, remembering that we’re from working class families who love to live in a first class fashion! So, you see, I live a South Philly connection every day through Gina - and thrilled about it too!” Trigiani currently lives in New York’s Greenwich Village where she works to inspire others as the co-founder of the Origin Project, an in-school writing program that serves more than a thousand students in Appalachia. Also coming up - an updated edition of her family cookbook that will be released in November this year. Visit the RowHome Magazine blog for Trigiani’s Venetian Eggs recipe. So, can Kiss Carlo become Trigiani’s next movie project? Perhaps, with South Philly itself as the filming location? “I can imagine so many wonderful actors in it,” Trigiani ponders. “I look forward to making this movie and you know I love to make movies where the story is born, so we’ll see about South Philly!” For more on Adriana, her books and the Origin Project, visit www. adrianatrigiani.com. prh
Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani
Author relives her ties to the neighborhood in her latest novel by John Nacchio
July / August / September 2017
| rowhome magazine | 85