Carol Rotini, author of the best-selling "Pasta on a Budget" and many other books on Italian cooking, was born in Rome and has lived in the U.S. since 1987.

In addition to her popular syndicated television show, "Cooking with Carol" she has a cooking school in her own home in the beautiful High Spot section of San Francisco.

At the same time as she shows you how to cook authentic Italian, her fascinating commentary gives you an insider's view of Italian life, interwoven with snippets of Italian history as it interlocks with the story of each dish.

In addition to her television experiences, Carol is a former chemist who has written books in Italy and America and articles about her cooking have appeared in numerous magazines.

Through her show and cooking classes, Carol hands out advice, passes on her knowledge, makes suggestions and tastes the delicacies she has prepared, using her vivid imagination to inject old and new recipes with a dash of originality.

She explains how lifestyles and social context have determined the evolution and popularity of traditional recipes in Italy and what causes certain forgotten dishes to enjoy a revival.

For this reason, she has been dubbed by the media as a 'gastronomic engineer" who creates "edible works of art". This ingenious craftswoman and artist teaches her personal techniques as well as traditional Venetian recipes.