Vicky Bennison, the woman behind the wildly successful Pasta Grannies YouTube channel, recently published a cookbook featuring a selection of the nonne she’s filmed. Titled Pasta Grannies: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks (Hardie Grant; October 2019), it’s full of unique yet accessible pasta styles, some of which are only made in certain villages and towns, from all corners of Italy. After many years working in international development, Bennison began writing about her culinary adventures, publishing numerous food guides and a cookbook along the way. We spoke to her about the origins of Pasta Grannies, how she decided on which nonne to feature in the cookbook and her favorite pastas.

Thursday, March 12, 11 a.m. My butt muscles start to hurt. I’ve been sitting for too many days, testing the resistance of Italian sofas (a small spot of national pride at a time when the rest of the world is scared of Italy). It is the fifth day of being confined indoors. We are following the #iorestoacasa (“I Stay Home”) decree of the government. In just four days everything has changed. Nobody dares to say, “It’s all an exaggeration.” Now the numbers are a confirmation – for some strange reason Italy has the highest number of infected people in the world after China.

The hordes of pizza lovers who descend on Naples usually head for Via dei Tribunali in the city’s historical center, famed for its parade of pizzerias. If they arrive by train, they will exit the central station, go straight through Piazza Garibaldi and head right for the Centro Storico, where the guidebooks they carry always (erroneously) say they will find the best pizzerias. Locals in the know, meanwhile, head ten minutes in the opposite direction, towards an area that has less foot traffic and appeal for tourists, but that is home to Carmnella – truly one of Naples’s best pizzerias. Evidence of this can be seen in the pizzeria’s dining room; by noon, Carmnella is already full, unusual in a city like Naples, where locals are used to having lunch between 1 and 3 p.m.