About the family
Kelly
I first arrived in Italy when I was 16 years old, young and inquisitive and open to just about anything my 80 year-old great-great aunt Camilla could wail at me and my twin cousins! I visited with my family there for a month by myself
and traveled from Rome to Milan staying with my family and touring the famous places that surrounded me. I continued to travel back and forth to visit my family in Italy over the years enjoying the beauty that surrounded me. From the North to the South, I visited many famous regions in Italy, stopping in all the different cities each teeming with their own cultures, languages, and foods. Inspired by my own cultural experiences and a passion to explore my Italian heritage, I returned to graduate school and drafted a business plan which laid the foundation for my company, Becoming Italian Today.
As a true entrepreneur I was driven to see this dream become a reality. After graduation I pitched the idea to my family and with their support purchased a plane ticket and returned to Italy to take a 7-week language course and research the market first-hand. 7-weeks became 8 months and soon I was living in Italy. I explored the winding streets and tucked away medieval towns. I attended outdoor markets and dined in local trattorie meeting very many fascinating people along the way. I wandered the cobblestone streets daily and went to places that others only saw pictures of in a dusty book. I learned Italian fluently and began to understand the local people and their customs. It was during this time I truly “became Italian” and realized I wanted to share this experience and cultural history with others. In between the tourist traps and gaudy globalization there still exists places where time stops and the people listen. It is in those places where you get a chance to see the REAL Italy and experience the culture and her people first-hand. I fell in love with the land, the people, the food, and of course the wine and it has only intensified over the last 25 years when this whole adventure began.
Becoming Italian Today is just that, becoming Italian or more Italian in some cases! ... Discovering or rediscovering the Italy of your dreams and bringing the Italian traditions and culture into your daily lives, whether it is through food, travel, or specialty products, my goal is to be the bridge, to help make that connection to the REAL Italy and bring you there, off the beaten path, away from the chaotic crowds, to the secret places, where the locals have gone for centuries.
Bertha Teresa Petrone Thomas
C
onceived in Italy and born on American soil, Italian chef, Bertha Teresa Petrone Thomas has long known her gift to her family and friends would be her ability to bring them together through her traditional Italian cooking. At the tender age of 9 years old, she recalls being in the kitchen with her mother Annuziata and grandmother Teresa preparing the evening meals as the mass of hungry mouths collected around the table.
Although her family originates from Naples, Bertha enjoys exploring the variety of flavors from both the northern and southern Italian cuisines. She began with the traditional dishes and ingredients and grew with them. After years of research and hands-on experience in many Italian kitchens she has taken off mixing traditional flavors with our modern day lifestyles. The dishes she creates are easy enough for a novice with the results satisfying even the toughest knowledgeable Italian food critics young and old.
It all started with a small request from some "foodie" friends for a cooking lesson that launched her into sharing with others her passion for Italian cuisine and the tips and tricks to making cooking simple and enjoyable.
Charles
Although his surname is Welch, Charles knew where his family came from at a young age. Growing up with his grandparents who were 1st generation Italians immigrants from Roccamonfina Caserta he was exposed to Italian language, culture, and food when he was just a piccolo bambino. The family kept a fruit orchard and a hearty vegetable garden that fed all the members of the family.
He recalls playing amongst the fruit trees and coming in to the kitchen to find his nonna making homemade preserves and other tasty treats. He fell in love with the flavors of his grandmother's authentic Italian cooking as a young boy, so no wonder when he met Bertha and tasted her cooking he knew he had found the one.
So why the sausage king? Well, it is his original Sausage recipe that is used for our B.I.T Rustic Italian Sausage which you can purchase locally in Belmont Market in Wakefield, RI. It began at our family dining room table when I was a child. He would make small batches at home and we would enjoy it with our family and friends. In fact, it was a family event and we would all be given a chance to grind the meat and help stuff the casings. Little did we know what we were helping to develop!