My Nana would have been 97 years old today. She died two years ago just shy of her 95th birthday.

She was the matriarch of our large Italian family.  Growing up on the North Shore of Massachusetts, our house was right next door to my Nana and Grampy’s. After school was often spent on my Nana’s porch, being fed cheese and crackers…. or cream cheese and jam sandwiches… or some sort of weird tuna and pickle sandwich combination or…. spumoni ice cream. (No mystery which treat was my favorite.) I didn’t always love what she was feeding me, but I never left hungry. “Eat! Eat!” Isn’t that every Italian grandmother’s refrain?

My Nana’s home was the gathering place for every family event — birthdays, anniversaries, holidays — and those occasions always included lots and lots of food. In fact, my Nana had not one but two kitchens for preparing these feasts. The main kitchen was for everyday cooking and the downstairs kitchen was for making homemade pasta and traditional Italian desserts, like cannoli.

I attribute my undying affection for cannoli to my Nana’s baking skills. A trip home to Boston is not complete without picking up some authentic cannoli from Modern in the North End. Locally, I am always content with cannoli from The Italian Store in Arlington.

Nana’s two-kitchen household spoke to the primacy of food in our family. We were always well-fed at family dinners. Lasagna, baked ziti, spaghetti and homemade meatballs, eggplant parmesan… the list goes on. And I think, for my Nana, hospitality meant good food and lots of it. Her table settings were always lovely. She managed — despite us messy kids — to always keep her linens white-white-white. But I think, for her, hospitality meant that no one left the table hungry. The highest praise to my Nana was going back for seconds and thirds and leaving a clean plate every time.

While I believe I inherited that view of hospitality — feed them well — I know that food is not the only way to make guests feel welcome in one’s home. Good conversation, comfortable spaces, casual elegance all go a long way in showing gracious hospitality to your guests. OK, I guess lasagna and cannoli can’t hurt either!

Happy Birthday, Nana!