Who was Giada’s grandmother? Meet Silvana Mangano

Giada De Laurentiis’ grandmother was Silvana Mangano, an Italian film actress who was born in Rome to a Sicilian father and an English mother.

De Laurentiis was one of the most prominent female stars of Italian cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. She worked with Dino De Laurentiis in many of his films.

Giada De Laurentiis has shared that her grandmother loved Italian food, especially rice, and has even shared her grandmother’s recipe for risotto alla milanese.

In 2009, Giada De Laurentiis became the voice of “Paulette”, a character on the animated children’s show Handy Manny. In 2008, De Laurentiis and the Barilla Group, launched an Italian gourmet line under the Academia Barilla name.

Giada De Laurentiis appeared as a presenter at the inaugural Food Network Awards in 2007. In July 2014, De Laurentiis opened her first restaurant, called GIADA, inside The Cromwell in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2010, De Laurentiis came out with a line of kitchen supplies, exclusively for Target.