Our Team

Lauren Birmingham Piscitelli

Creator & Owner

Lauren is an artist at heart. She created Cooking Vacations Italy and continues to bring new cooking experiences as she travels across Italy, always meeting chefs, wine makers and food experts. Lauren began her career in the communications as a writer and photographing for The Brown Daily Herald at Brown University. She graduated, moved to Paris and joined the marketing & publicity department at Hasbro Toys, Paris, France. She returned to Boston and created Birmingham Public Relations where she managed media campaigns for Red Sox, Celtic, Patriot & Bruins sports stars, Chefs, Rebook Sports, and the Boston Marathon. A published writer & photographer, and foodie at heart, she loves to cook! Traveling, discovering new food recipes & trends is a never-ending adventure. Born in the USA, she is an Italian-American who now lives in Positano, Italy.

Melody Guerra

Manager at Cooking Vacations

Melody, Manager at Cooking Vacations, a lover of food, wine and all things Italian, lives in Positano.  Inspired by languages, Melody studied Spanish, French and Italian and chose to pursue Italian due to her Italian roots: Great Grandfather Enrico Guerra, from near Montefiascone in Lazio and Great Grandmother Rosa Bianco from Catanzaro, Calabria.  Nonno Giuseppe Francesco Guerra served in Italy during World War II and continues to enjoy speaking Italian with Melody.

Melody came to Italy shortly after her graduation from Georgetown University looking to put 3 years of Italian study into practice.  Since living in Italy, Melody has worked in a hotel in Positano, taught English in Salerno and Rome and worked for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.  Her expertise is Rome, Torino and the Amalfi Coast-where she works in the Cooking Vacations’ Positano office. Melody’s passion lies in revealing true Italy to those who come visit.

Germaine Stafford

Food Writer

Germaine Stafford brings us “Italy On A Plate” each month-a culinary round-up of what is  happening in the culinary world and gives you her chef of the month, book recommendation, and seasonal foods.  Germaine is a fulltime freelance writer who has spent the last 14 years of her life in Italy. For the last 5 years she has been the food and cookery correspondent for Italy published in Britain, has won a variety of competitions for both her fiction and non- fiction work, and in 2004 reached the final of the prestigious CWA Debut Dagger award.  When she’s not writing, she’s probably eating and drinking or has her nose stuck in a good book.

Marie Lucia Birmingham

Accounting

A chef at heart and always in the kitchen, Marie heads up the accounting department keeping all the reservations in order. She loves to cook,-while listening to her Italian classics. She follows in the foot-steps of her mom Philomena and her grandmother Lucia, as a mom and cook. And like her grandmother, she is always with her children and grandchildren. Marie loves it best when she is rolling out dough, making fresh pasta and baking those sweet biscotti with granddaughters Chloe Lucia and Siena Rose.

Todd English

Executive Chef & Restauranteur

Contribuiting his award-winning recipes each month, Todd English one of the most decorated, respected and charismatic chefs in the world, Has enjoyed a staggering number of accolades during his remarkable career. He has been recognized by several of the food industrys’ most prestigious publications, established one of the best-known restaurant brands in the nation, published theree critically acclaimed cookbooks, and was named People’s Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People. Each month Todd brings us his amazing recipes!

Sabatino Laudano

Sabatino was born in the beautiful bay of Conca dei Marini, just down the coast from Positano and has grown up there his whole life. Combining his passion for the Mediterean cuisine with his love of filming he is inspired every day by his surroundings here on the Amalfi Coast. Studying Audio-Video Communications and specializing in Documentaries, he has visited and worked all over Italy from Umbria and Tuscany and back to home territory in Capri and the Penisola Sorrentina. He has documented works from the Gambero Rosso and Michelin food guides. A true artist, not only passionate about the food that he films but also in the Italian music and fashion scenes. When he’s not hard at work he loves to travel and explore new and interesting places and foods to get his imagination going

Paulo A Lima, MSc Food Culture

Food Trends

Paulo brings food trends to Cooking Vacations each month. He currently is the food trends director for the world’s number one food luxury project called LA Organic, a project headed by the famous French architect and designer Philippe Starck and the world’s most respected enologist Michel Rolland. Lima is an expert in gastronomy trends and marketing with a Master of Sciences in Food Culture and Communication from Universita di Scienze Gastronomiche / Slow Food in Italy, a post graduate degree in e-business and in Consumer Psychology from New York University, and a BSc in Marketing from Rio de Janeiro’s Universidade Cidade; Paulo travels all over the world locating exciting new products, a mission that allows him to combine his passion for discovering authentic terroir-specific foods with his desire to bring them to a select group of food lovers. Paulo is a master of-analysis of markets that identify and forecast lifestyle and food trends. Prior LA Organic, Paulo was the gastronomy trends director for Italy’s Appennino Truffle Group, the world’s second largest truffle trading firm based in Bologna. Prior he was marketing manager at Italian Cooking and Living Media Group – La Cucina Italiana Magazine in New York.

Terenzio Biscardo

Wine Sommelier

Terenzio Biscardo is our Italian wine producer and expert from
his Villa Ortaglia in Montepulciano. He and his son Nicola, who are members of the National Organization of Wine Tasters of the Italian Association of Sommeliers and of the Society of Wine Educators, produce the great Montepulciano wines from Tuscany. Terenzio’s knowledge and award winning wines makes him a leader in the field. Each month he shares his knowledge and information with you on the great wines of Italy.

Amy Londra

Amy has been in the food industry since she started working and always been a lover of the fascinating Italian food and culture. With an Italian father and Scottish mother there has always been influence of both cultures while growing up. After studying Interior Architecture at university she decided that food was the way forward and she has stuck with it ever since. She has worked in restaurants in both Scotland and Italy, managed a hotel in England and most recently been Manager of a luxury Villa in Positano so she is never too far away from great food. Inspired by learning new things every day she believes that there is no end to the possibilities of food.

Amy cooks up great ideas managing our social media campaign, assisting in client guest services and of course, taste testing in the Kitchen.