Our Story
Strazzanti was created to continue the story and memories of our grandparents who taught us everything about our Sicilian and Neapolitan heritage. Growing up we understood our Italian heritage through them as people, their stories and by sharing, eating and cooking the dishes that they grew up with, and using the ingredients that our relatives would send to us in England from Sicily & Naples in small parcels “il piccolo pacchetto”.
When our grandparents left us, it reinforced to us as a family that what they taught and shared is a huge part of our cultural identity, and we could not risk that heritage disappearing. Together as a family, as three sisters, our passion is to give back to the land and work with like-minded young entrepreneurs, landowners and farmers in Sicily to keep this heritage and Sicilian traditions, which we all lovingly grew up with, alive.
We are dedicated to showcasing the incredible produce, culture and spirit of the Sicilian land through our family recipes, experiences and ingredients. We share our modern imaginings of Sicily through our culinary experiences, striving to inspire and transport you to Sicily in every mouthful; to create new memories or revisit old ones.
Emilia, Sofia & Nina Strazzanti
The Land
Sicily, or Sicilia, the largest Mediterranean island, is located at the foot of Italy. It has an abundance of nature reserves, rolling and swelling hills, green citrus trees, carob trees and pistachios, almond blossom and vineyards, where exotic plants flourish lining rugged coastlines. From the snow-capped peak of Mount Etna, the fertile land and crystal emerald sea brimming with fish, fields of seasonal vegetables and fruits; you will rarely eat anything that has not been produced within a few miles of where you are sitting.
Our ingredients have been cultivated by generations of families spanning 130 years who have dedicated their lives to respecting the land and the sea by growing native and rare varieties of ingredients, with an uncompromising passion to nurture world class, sustainable produce. We work directly with these artisan producers and renowned chefs to discover the priazed, rare and unique ingredients for our Sicilian collection. Produced in Sicily or handmade in London our products are crafted in small batches to capture the essence of Sicily and for optimum freshness.
The Hunter
A symbol of our dedication to discover the authentic and rare from Sicily.
The Cirneco dell’ Etna, ‘the Sicilian Hound’ (pronounced cheer-nec-ko) is an ancient breed, and native to Sicily, before it became the wonderful cultural melting pot we know and love today.
For 3,000 years Sicily was the strategic crossroads of Europe. Nowhere else have Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, French, Germans, Spanish, Italians, and even the British, left such an enormous collective legacy. The island is a vast open-air museum, a testament to nearly every Mediterranean civilisation of the past.
Derived from the Latin “cernere” which means “to look for attentively”, The Hunter was held high in spiritual, symbolic and religious importance for ancient Sicilians, often depicted in engravings and minted coins throughout the 5th and 2nd centuries B.C.
Today, the rare, small hound, entirely orange in colour, continues to hunt small game in rough volcanic terrain in Sicily.
The Three Sisters
We are three young entrepreneurial sisters in their 30’s who were brought up in a small town in the West Midlands where our Grandparents immigrated to during the 50’s. At 18 we all left for University and Emilia for Italy in her early 20’s. We all met back together in London which has been our UK home for the last 15 years collectively. We grew up around a hard-working ethic to create new opportunities for our futures and others, proudly influenced by our Grandparents and parents who also had their own small family businesses.
Nina – at 25 was an integral part in the starting of now well established music label Disturbing London, her degree’s are in Events management & Art and continues to work in music management part time.
Sofia – the first born sister started her first business in fashion at 26 years old with a degree in Marketing & Advertising.
Emilia – the youngest sister, professionally trained as a Chef since 16 years old was the co-founding catalyst to Strazzanti when she was just 27 years old and has a degree in Hospitality management, Business development & consultancy.