Giada De Laurentiis has become famous in her own right, one of Food Network’s most recognizable stars, but it was another famous figure who stirred her passion for food — her grandfather Dino. “My earliest food memory is when I was 5, making pizza dough with my grandfather,” De Laurentiis says. “My nonno[grandfather] loved cooking, loved spending time in the kitchen. I’d spend Sundays with him, and we’d have these big family suppers.”

That was when the De Laurentiis clan lived on the outskirts of Rome, after Dino had become one of Italy’s biggest film producers, working with directors such as Federico Fellini and Roberto Rossellini, and had branched into Hollywood, producing films as varied as “Serpico,” “Death Wish” and a 1976 remake of “King Kong.