Press
In the recently published memoir "The Bicycle Runner," the late G. Franco Romagnoli remembers growing up in fascist Italy.
Romagnoli, who died in December at age 82, was a legend in Hub culinary circles. He and his first wife, Margaret, were hosts of the (1974-1976) landmark Public Television series “The Romagnoli’s Table,” the first authentic Italian cooking show on American television. It spawned several cookbooks and a popular Faneuil Hall restaurant.
In “The Bicycle Runner,” Romagnoli describes life as an adolescent in Rome during World War II and his later adventures helping the Resistance.
Of course, Romagnoli being Romagnoli, food makes frequent appearances. Vivid descriptions of scraping together the ingredients to make maionese (mayonnaise) for Friday night fish dinners and trading favorite menus with an American pilot behind enemy lines will have you licking your lips - and smiling.
The cuisine of G. Franco Romagnoli’s boyhood in Italy fueled his grandest successes. In the 1970s he and his wife, Margaret, hosted the PBS show “The Romagnolis’ Table,’’ out of which grew a series of cookbooks. For 10 years they owned an Italian restaurant in Faneuil Hall Marketplace.
Just before Romagnoli (childhood photo below) died in December, he had finished a memoir of his youth in Italy during World War II. It was published last month. In “The Bicycle Runner’’ (Thomas Dunne), he describes joining the resistance and racing around Rome on an old bicycle smuggling messages and weapons. Besides writing about treacherous times in Italy’s history, Romagnoli also recounts his search for love when young.
The Bicycle Runner: A Memoir of Love, Loyalty, and the Italian Resistance, by G. Franco Romagnoli. Romagnoli (d. 2008; A Thousand Bells at Noon: A Roman Reveals the Secrets and Pleasures of His Native City), who was known for his expertise on Italian cuisine, here reflects on his activities in Italy from the late 1930s to the end of World War II. He colorfully describes his own experience of the complexities and ambiguities that were common in relationships among Fascist and anti-Fascist Italians and the Germans, who were alternately their allies and their occupiers. He openly describes his friendships with Mussolini supporters and Germans while he was working as a messenger for the Italian resistance. Although the tone of the memoir is sad, Romagnoli lightens the story with humorous anecdotes and the familiar angst of teenage romance. The narrative becomes especially exciting when Romagnoli flees Rome into the countryside to avoid military service for the puppet government the Germans set up in the north after Italy had officially surrendered to the Allies. This memoir is recommended for the sheer pleasure of reading it.—Michael Farrell, Reformed Theological Seminary Lib., Oviedo, FL
Kirkus Review, The Bicycle Runner, subscriber only
"Personable, gently humorous memories of adolescence under Mussolini by an Italian chef and author....It was a heady, dangerous time for the youth, and his portraits of these local heroes and villains form an invaluable depiction of a historically significant time and place. Heartfelt sketches of a deeply troubling era in Italian history."
Sons of Italy, Summer 2008 Book Club Selection
Italy, the Romagnoli Way: A Culinary Journey by G. Franco & Gwen Romagnoli. Renowned chef and restaurateur G. Franco Romagnoli and his wife, Gwen take a journey through Italy's amazingly varied culinary landscape to explore the specialties of its regions. The record of these travels includes authentic recipes from each region as well as its folklore, history and traditions. The result is a cookbook, travel guide and a delightful bedside read. It is also richly illustrated with stunning color photographs.
BostonHerald.com, The 'Romagnoli Way' to Italy
Now the Romagnolis bring their love of Italy’s myriad cuisines to readers.
“When we wrote the book, Gwen and I had a pang of conscience,” Franco admitted. “These places are so nice and not well known yet. If we write about it, will this be the end of it? Or should we keep quiet and keep them to ourselves?”
Their decision to spill the beans means delicious reading.
Publishers Weekly
Like a modern-day Virgil and Beatrice, the Romagnolis, cohosts of the PBS series The Romagnolis' Table, conduct a breathless journey through the paradisiacal food and wine regions of Italy. Beginning at the northern Alpine border of Italy, the two move slowly south, savoring food and wine as well as people and places. Their love of the country shines through their adoring descriptions of locales. Chiavari, in the northwestern region of Liguria, is an elegantly simple, relaxed and pleasant city, facing a sheltered sea and untouched by winter. In Emilia-Romagno, the Romagnolis set off on a quest to find the perfect prosciutto ham and Parmigiano cheese for which the region is famous. They discover not only a prosciutto that ideally combines creamy marbled fat and salty crispness, they also stumble across a violin museum where they listen raptly to the lush strains of a 1715 Stradivarius that transports them to the baroque period. In Calabria, a young boy brings the Romagnolis a meal of super-fresh braided mozzarella, just-picked garden tomatoes, a warm loaf of country bread and a carafe of cool, dry and sharp as a blade white wine, which they declare is the best meal they have ever had. Recipes accompany every chapter, and the Romagnolis' intimate storytelling and love of Italian food and culture carry readers on an unforgettable journey. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The Improper Bostonian, Hungry and Mad
The Boston Sunday Review, WBCN-FM in Boston, May 18th 8:30 am
Kirkus Review, Special Lifestyle Travel & Leisure 2008 (pdf), review
La Cucina Italiana, June 2008, reviewed 
The Boston Globe: You can be an adventurer - got a checkbook?
Boston Magazine: What's 'Italian' for Smorgasboard?
"For those looking to explore Italian cuisine beyond seafood fra diavolo and pasta puttanesca (and, let’s be honest, fettucine alfredo), there is an excellent guide in the form of Boston’s own G. Franco Romagnoli, who with his wife, Gwen, has just published Italy, the Romagnoli Way."
