Our instructors have years of experience with cooking and specifically Italian Cuisine - Especially PASTA.
We grew up eating the homemade food of our Italian immigrant parents (from Calabria) - watching and learning. Authentic Italian food is about the simple preparation of a few fresh, local, high quality ingredients. We are excited to share these traditions with you. Scroll down to learn more…
Carmella Alvaro
Owner & Pasta Maker
Il Laboratorio & Melina’s Fresh Pasta
My parents, Giuseppe and Giuseppa, came to America with my sister, Rita, and brother, Rocco, over fifty years ago from Sinopoli, a small town near Reggio, Calabria, on the southern tip of Italy. I was born in Syracuse, NY a few years later and was lucky enough to grow up in the local close knit Italian American community watching my Mom cook meals from scratch, using ingredients my Dad grew in his backyard garden. After leaving home, I missed the homemade Italian food I grew up with so I took a trip to Italy to learn how to make fresh pasta. When I returned I founded Melina’s Fresh Pasta in 2010 and Il Laboratorio - An Italian Focused Cooking Class Kitchen - in 2024.
Daniela Stanganelli
Instructor & Personal Chef
Owner, D’s Corner Kitchen
Daniela is a first generation Italian American from Clearwater, Florida where she grew up in her family's Italian market. Surrounded by Italian food, traditions, and hospitality from an early age, Daniela developed a deep love for cooking and sharing food with others.
Daniela is an instructor at Il Laboratorio and owns D’s Corner Kitchen, where she brings people together through authentic Southern Italian, made in-home Calabrese dinners. The meals she creates are inspired by traditions, recipes, and flavors she grew up with in her Italian family. Having spent most of her life cooking alongside her mother, who is from Calabria, Italy, Daniela is passionate about keeping traditions alive and sharing recipes, techniques, and stories passed down to her. Through her cooking classes, and in home cooked private dinners, she invites others to experience the flavors and traditions that are cooked with the warmth, intuition, and love that is at the heart of Italian cuisine.
“The simpler the food, the harder it is to prepare it well.”
Chef Joel Robuchon