Mario Batali

The kitchen really is the castle itself. This is where we spend our happiest moments and where we find the joy of being a family.

I come from an Italian family. One of the greatest and most profound expressions we would ever use in conversations or arguments was a slamming door. The slamming door was our punctuation mark.

As they say in Italy, Italians were eating with a knife and fork when the French were still eating each other. The Medici family had to bring their Tuscan cooks up there so they could make something edible.

Finishing food is about the tiny touches. In the last seconds you can change everything.

Bologna is the best city in Italy for food and has the least number of tourists. With its medieval beauty, it has it all.