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Revision as of 09:29, 11 March 2006 by 151.205.126.130 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Born Lidia Motika in 1947 in a seaport town known as Pola (today Pula) in Istria, but her family name were changed by law under the Italian regime to Maticchio. She and her family left Istria to Trieste when she was ten years old and lived in a refugee camp for some months, but gained employment as domestics for a wealthy Triestin family until they emigrated to the U.S. in 1958.
She married Felice (or Felix) Bastianich, a fellow Istrian, in 1966 when she was 19, but they divorced after 31 years of marriage and 2 children, and after having built a restaurant empire together. She retains her married name professionally.
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 linking to food and cooking.
She is a naturalized citizen of the U.S. and considers herself an Italian.