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 BIOGRAPHY |
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2007
Laura now intensifies her studies of regional cooking, and is invited to give lectures on traditional food both in Italy and abroad.
She celebrates the publication of her ninetieth book. Indeed some of her works are translated into French, English and Spanish.
Her psychology studies continue and she turns her attention to the dynamics of couples.
At the present time Laura lives in her "house in the wood" together with 4 dogs, 13 cats, a score of hens and 8,000 books.
She has just a few close friends who, however, are irreplaceable, a mother she adores, and a companion who thinks highly of her and gives her all his support (and whose good luck it often is to try out her culinary experiments).
Then publish the site Italy Recipes to promote her experiences in foods research.
She actually write on the online news of the Brembana Valley
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2001-2006
As the new millennium is rung in Laura receives a commission from the publishing house Xenia for a Wicca handbook, the very first to
be written by an Italian. Following the publication of this small yellow book, already at its third edition, Laura finds she has
become a reference point for many people whose curiosity in "the religion of witches" has been aroused.
There is now an ever increasing number of lectures to be given, of meetings to attend, discussions and debates to take part in and mailing lists requiring her attention.
From 2004 to 2007 she runs the magazine "Vento tra le fronde" (Breeze In The Foliage), whilst continuing with her contributions to newspapers and periodicals.
She pursues her studies in psychology, exploring the mechanism of interpersonal relations.
In the 2006 promote typcal italian foods with the site Laura's Kitchen.
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1999-2000
Her studies now multiply, as do her published books, lectures, conventions, participation in TV programmes ("Uno Mattina" for the
RAI and "Buon Pomeriggio" for Swiss television), and in radio programmes (Radio Switzerland among others).
She sets up the CeSTAG (Centre for the Studies of Traditional Alimentation and Gastronomy) an organisation concerned
with tracing a variety of material, old cookery books, specialised studies of typical products, the history of nutrition and
traditional eating habits, " fitoalimurgia" (the science of the use of naturally growing wild plants, in particular wild herbs,
for nutrition), the use of both medicinal and natural herbs in phyto-therapy and nutrition, etc.
She rearranges an archive of over two million recipes from various parts of the world, some of which are historical, even really
antique, others handed down by the women of her own family and by numerous elderly women she has interviewed over the last twenty
years.
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1992-99
Following (benevolent) family pressure, she takes up a "serious career" (surely writing is not a profession, she hears again and again...),
which she finds a bit distressing: she sets up in business, first with a partner, then alone. This business is a publishing firm bearing
her own name, and which publishes more than a hundred beginners' manuscripts and in addition a few famous authors works.
Soon, however, any illusion about lending a helping hand to unknown but talented people to break into the publishing world is shattered
when she comes up against the hard reality of the editorial market, and after 9 years of valiant struggles with both distributors and
booksellers, Laura tires and gives up her publishing house.
To the consternation of her relatives, friends and acquaintances, on October 26th 1999, having sold the firm, Laura, together with her
cats and 5,000 books, "retires" to live in a big house in the middle of a wood in Blello, a tiny hamlet in the Valley Brembana.
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1991
She obtains her degree in The History of Christianity with a thesis on the use of torture by the Inquisition in trials for acts of witchcraft. This thesis is subsequently published, first richly illustrated under the title "The Sexes of The Devil" and then, when this edition sells out, in paperback edition under the title "Torture".
She continues to take a keen interest in art, organising exhibitions and the apparatus criticus for several catalogues.
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1984-1990
Meanwhile, at university she has the opportunity to systematically and methodically study the history of women, specializing in the persecution of witches. In fact she attends courses in The History of Political Doctrines, Moral Philosophy, The History of Christianity and The History of The Church, all of which are centred around the witch hunts and their political and philosophical implications.
For some years already she has been involved in work for private television and radio stations, and also for newspapers and magazines, working for several different television channels as art critic.
In 1990 she becomes a journalist and begins work on her first books under various pen-names. The same year she manages to acquire a tiny apartment in a farmhouse in the Milan hinterland where she goes to live alone with 7 cats and 2,000 books.
She continues her studies in psychology exploring the fields of neuro-linguistics and the dynamics of communication.
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1983-84
During this period she travels extensively frequently visiting Britain, France, Greece and the North African countries. She starts to collect recipes from various parts of the world. She also begins to develop an interest in psychology, which becomes her great passion, and to study feeding disorders. She gives up acting in order to throw herself heart and soul into her university studies. She carries on her literary activities however, and in 1984 writes her first novel, a novel which is still unpublished.
Together with the pianist Marco Falossi, for three years she conducts an art and culture television programme for "Rete 7" leading to a fondness for art reviews and criticism.
Together with Vittoria Palazzo she organises the exhibition "The Brera Centenary" in Milan.
She makes the acquaintance of many artists, among whom are Bodini, Baratella, Dova, Sassu, Treccani and Brindisi following them to Russia for the exhibition of Italian Painters organised by the Moscow Academy of Science and Arts. Sassu and Treccani do a portrait of her "live", sketching it in her diary.
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1977-1982
On moving to Monza, she obtains her diploma from the teacher's training college, attends the integrative year in order to enrol at the university of Milan. These are the years of experimentation and many activities: theatre, cabaret, drama school, reading circles and esoteric groups.
In 1980 her first book of poetry is published: "Autumn in Monza". It receives about a hundred literary awards, including some whose prize is the publication of this collection of poems.
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1962-1977
It is in Bologna that she remains for her first 15 years of life, but her childhood years are spent in her grandparents' house in Vignola, an enchanted place which will leave its mark on her for ever. It is here that she learns to cook, under the expert eye of Granny Oriele, learns how to seek out herbs, and to listen to the old folks, three passions that are to remain with her for all time.
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23 december 1962
Laura is born to Luisa and Franco in Bologna, on a frosty night in December just two days before Christmas, with no silver spoon in her mouth.
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English