Virtual author event
* Wednesday, March 8, 1:00 pm

In her debut cookbook, Susan Gravely celebrates 40 years as Founder and Creative Director of VIETRI, a lifestyle brand offering handcrafted Italian tabletop and home and garden accessories. Italy on a Plate is an exploration into what makes Italy so magical: its staggering beauty, unparalleled style, artistic legacy, and incredible food. The close friends Gravely has made during her years of Italian travels have graciously shared their homes and their favorite family recipes, and this book gives a culinary tour of Italy's flavors with recipes you will enjoy with loved ones for years to come.

Susan Gravely is the Founder and the CEO of VIETRI, Inc., a lifestyle brand of Italian artisan-crafted dinnerware and home and garden accessories. VIETRI was founded in 1983 by Lee Gravely and her daughters, Susan and Frances, after a family trip to Italy where they fell in love with the colorful hand-painted Italian dinnerware of the Amalfi Coast. VIETRI is now America's largest Italian ceramics importing company, partnering with numerous Italian manufacturers in various regions throughout Italy. VIETRI serves a customer base of over 2,000 specialty retailers and department stores in all 50 states and internationally.  Susan currently oversees product design for VIETRI and lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with her husband, Bill, and dog, Franco.

Frances Mayes is the author of the classic Under the Tuscan Sun, which was a New York Times bestseller for more than two and a half years and became a movie starring Diane Lane. Her other international bestsellers include Bella Tuscany, Every Day in Tuscany, A Year in the World, and three illustrated books: In Tuscany, Bringing Tuscany Home, and The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Mayes is also the author of two novels, Swan and Women in Sunlight, six books of poetry, and The Discovery of Poetry. Her most recent books are See You in the Piazza, Always Italy and A Place in the World. Frances Mayes’s writing has been translated into more than fifty languages.  She and her husband divide their time between North Carolina and Cortona, Italy.