Under the Olive Tree is a story of family life and food in Lugano, an elegant city clinging to the edges of a Swiss lake near the northern Italian border, and the sapphire seas of the Costa Smeralda in Sardegna, Italy. Manuela Darling-Gansser, along with photographer Simon Griffiths, captures this inspirational journey as she revisits the memories, sights, smells and tastes of her home town and the summer holidays of her childhood. Eat salami and mountain cheeses with red wine in the tiny grotto restaurants in the remote valleys of southern Switzerland. Sample traditional Sardinian fare of Culligiones, large pasta cushions filled with potato and wild mint and Semifreddo Di Miele Amaro, a soft ice cream flavoured with the unique Sardegnan bitter honey in the picturesque harbours on the Mediterranean. Manuela Darling-Gansser has cooking in her blood, her greatgrandfather founded a restaurant in Lugano 120 years ago and his son, her grandfather, made it famous. She is your perfect guide host, intimately translating the food and flavours of her heritage. Under the Olive Tree is a celebration of Mediterranean al fresco living at its best!