Say goodbye to personal space,” Chiara Nicolanti says as a trio of nonnas prod a student’s dough. Only a few minutes earlier they were prodding him, pinching his cheek affectionately and letting off a rapid-fire stream of instructions. For Nicolanti, 39, the founder of Pasta with Grandma, this is a social dynamic baked into what it means to be Italian.
For the rest of the class it is an acquired taste — but one we are here to savour. We have gathered at a storied restaurant in the centre of Rome on a sweltering August evening to be guided by grandmothers, in this case Margherita Lucci, 69, Rosella Mercuri, 68, and Renzia Petrocchi, 67.
