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| Born Lidia Motika '''in 1947''' in a seaport town today known as Pula, ], in present-day Croatia, but which was called Pola up through World War II. He family name was changed to Maticchio under |
Born Lidia Motika '''in 1947''' in a seaport town today known as Pula, ], in present-day Croatia, but which was called Pola up through World War II. He family name was changed to Maticchio under Mussolini's Fascist Italian dictatorship between the two world wars, then changed to Motika under Tito's Yugoslav dictatorship. She and her family left Istria to ] when she was ten years old and lived in a refugee camp for some months, but then took employment as domestics for a wealthy Triestin family until they gained visas to emigrate to the U.S. in 1958. | ||
| She married Felice (or Felix) Bastianich, a fellow Istrian, in 1966 when she was 19, and they built a restaurant empire together, but then divorced after 31 years of marriage and 2 children. She retains her married name professionally, and the two children are now in business with their mother. | She married Felice (or Felix) Bastianich, a fellow Istrian, in 1966 when she was 19, and they built a restaurant empire together, but then divorced after 31 years of marriage and 2 children. She retains her married name professionally, and the two children are now in business with their mother. | ||
Revision as of 10:04, 11 March 2006
Born Lidia Motika in 1947 in a seaport town today known as Pula, Istria, in present-day Croatia, but which was called Pola up through World War II. He family name was changed to Maticchio under Mussolini's Fascist Italian dictatorship between the two world wars, then changed to Motika under Tito's Yugoslav dictatorship. She and her family left Istria to Trieste when she was ten years old and lived in a refugee camp for some months, but then took employment as domestics for a wealthy Triestin family until they gained visas to emigrate to the U.S. in 1958.
She married Felice (or Felix) Bastianich, a fellow Istrian, in 1966 when she was 19, and they built a restaurant empire together, but then divorced after 31 years of marriage and 2 children. She retains her married name professionally, and the two children are now in business with their mother.
Lidia is the co-owner of "Felidia" and "Becco" and "Esca" restaurants in New York and "Lidia's" in Kansas City as well as "Lidia's Pittsburgh" (opened in 2002), as well as host of her own TV cooking show, a 52-part PBS series. She is the author of three cookbooks, and is the owner of various commercial enterprises that are linked to food and cooking.
She is a naturalized citizen of the U.S. and considers herself Italian.