Bridging the Agricultural and Culinary Traditions of Sicily and Vermont with Fabrizia Lanza
Celebrate the return of spring at Shelburne Farms with Sicilian cookbook author, chef, and educator Fabrizia Lanza. This gathering invites participants to explore the connections between food, land, and culture that bridge Sicily and Vermont at a moment when both landscapes are coming back to life after the winter season.
Drawing on her work at the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in Sicily, Fabrizia will share stories, recipes, and reflections rooted in seasonal cooking and agricultural traditions. Through conversation and storytelling, she will share how simple ingredients, thoughtful care of the land and techniques shape Sicilian cuisine — values that resonate closely with the working landscape of Vermont.
Participants will meet and interact with Shelburne Farms catering chef and farmers, Vermont producers, and those engaged in the Vermont food system throughout the experiential program. Our time together will include a visit to our Market Garden greenhouses to harvest early season ingredients with our farmers while learning about the importance of soil and regenerative farming practices. We will walk the land to wildcraft spring nettles and learn the importance of pasture raised livestock with Shelburne Farms dairy & livestock manager. We will gather in the kitchen with Fabrizia and Shelburne Farms catering chef Jackie Major to learn simple techniques to bring the land to life and share meals together!
Whether you are a passionate home cook, an admirer of the foodways of Italy and Vermont, or simply curious about how food traditions express place and identity, this program offers a welcoming opportunity to learn, taste, and connect.
Fabrizia’s book The Food of Sicily: Recipes from a Sun-Drenched Culinary Crossroads will be available for purchase.
Optional accommodations are available at Shelburne Farms Inn for an additional cost. If you are interested in staying at the Inn please contact our reservations team at reservations@shelburnefarms.org or 802-985-8498 Monday-Friday 9:00AM-5:00PM and reference this program.
Fabrizia Lanza is the director of the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School, an immersive food and education center rooted in the heart of rural Sicily. She is a storyteller, researcher, and lifelong observer of the ties between land and table. Over the past 15 years, Fabrizia has expanded her mother’s original cooking school into a vibrant platform for rethinking foodways through programs, films, books, and hands-on experiences. 2026 marks the 10th anniversary of Cook The Farm, Anna Tasca Lanza’s immersive food educational program, launched by Fabrizia in 2016. This course brings together participants from around the world to cook, taste, and think about the broader landscapes behind what we eat. Fabrizia’s work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Financial Times, Bon Appétit, and Kinfolk. She is the author of Coming Home to Sicily and The Food of Sicily, and the producer of two documentaries, Amuri and Amaro. Through her writing, teaching, and research, she preserves traditional knowledge while cultivating space for new food stories to emerge. In addition, she is the visionary founder of the emerging Anna Tasca Lanza Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the USA to promote cross-cultural understanding and community resilience by preserving culinary heritage and storytelling traditions.
Photo by Fulvia Bernacca.