MEZZA ITALIANA:

AN ENCHANTING STORY ABOUT LOVE, FAMILY, LA DOLCE VITA AND FINDING YOUR PLACE IN THE WORLD

By Zoe Boccabella
Harper Collins
(NZ RRP): $ 36.99

Zoë Boccabella grew up in Brisbane in the 1970s and 80s. Back then, it was mostly an Anglo-Australian town - if you wanted to fit in, you did not bottle tomatoes, have plastic on the hallway carpet or a Glory Box of Italian linen tablecloths.


As a teenager, Zoë wanted to be like everyone else. She refused to call her grandmother Nonna, resisted learning Italian, and even dyed her dark hair blonde. But she could not shake the unsettling sense of feeling ‘half-and-half’ - half Australian, mezza Italiana - unable to fit fully into either culture.

Then Zoë travels to Italy to stay in the house that has belonged to her family for several centuries. It sits high in the mountains in the village of Fossa in Abruzzo, an hour and a half north-east of Rome. The Abruzzo region is the stuff of fairytales - castles, dark forests, serpent charmers and witches (Zoë’s great grandmother was the village witch).
Family stories come to life and as Fossa casts its spell, Zoë begins to understand the courage of those who migrated and the preciousness of holding onto her ancestral culture. Then the earthquake hits, and in the wake of the devastation Zoë discovers the importance of endurance - in people, in places and in traditions.

Beautifully written, sprinkled with recipes and laced with love, Mezza Italiana is a heart-warming journey into the soul of Italy, and into a family you’ll not forget.