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ABOUT US | NEWS | MEET THE FOUNDER | MEET THE DEAN

If you're a journalist, we hope you’ll visit us at The International Culinary Center—also home to The French Culinary Institute and The Italian Culinary Academy —in the heart of New York City’s Soho. You can pose your questions to our distinguished Dean, Cesare Casella, as well as our quoteworthy Chef-Instructors. Sit in on the most authentic Italian cooking classes available anywhere. Ogle our new no-holds-barred Italian kitchen. Witness one of the riveting demos held weekly in the renowned International Culinary Theatre. To make an appointment, just contact Stephanie Fray or call 646.314.4413. We look forward to seeing you.

about us

THE ITALIAN CULINARY ACADEMY

The Italian Studies program at The International Culinary Center in New York City offers aspiring Italian cooks at all levels the most well-rounded and authentic Italian culinary training available anywhere. Designed and overseen by acclaimed author, restaurant owner, and Master Chef Cesare Casella, our programs offer several exhilarating Total Immersion^SM schedules—including an exciting option to train in Italy.

Our unique culinary history and Soho location (we also house the legendary French Culinary Institute) offer the ideal setting to immerse yourself in everything Italian and food-related both in and out of class. Working with accomplished Chef-Instructors in our new custom-designed Italian kitchen (replete with brick-lined, custom-made pizza oven, stainless steel work tables, Italian-marbled chef’s station, and the industry’s finest equipment), you can master the skills, techniques and classic recipes necessary to hone your repertoire of cuisine from every region of Italy.

Our Italian Culinary Experience program offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to train on both sides of the Atlantic, learning in our kitchens in New York City and at ALMA in Parma, Italy. This 29-week course also includes Italian language training and a chance to put your new skills to the test during an internship in the kitchen of one of Italy’s top restaurants—making it ideal for anyone who wants to eat, drink, live and breathe Italian cuisine, language, and culture. Students can get a smaller—but just as delicious—taste in an 8-session Essentials of Italian Cooking class.

Whatever course you choose, you’ll discover why Italians are so passionate about food and how to awaken that passion within yourself while following in the footsteps of culinary legends of the past, present, and future.

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news

2010 International Day of Italian Cuisine
Chefs and food lovers come together at the New York City celebrations for the 2010 IDIC hosted by Dean Cesare Casella at The International Culinary Academy. READ MORE

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meet the founder

DOROTHY CANN HAMILTON,
Founder + CEO
A passionate entrepreneur, award-winning educator, and gastronomic visionary, Dorothy Cann Hamilton is one of the most influential forces shaping the American culinary landscape today. Her lifelong passion and relentless pursuit of culinary excellence across the globe inspired the creation of The International Culinary Center in New York City, launching over 15,000 careers, including many of America’s most prominent chefs.

Inspired by the premier vocational schools in Europe she visited in the early 1980s, Dorothy Cann Hamilton founded The French Culinary Institute in 1984. Since then, the school has evolved from a small, well-respected French cooking school to a world-class educational facility where Chef-Instructors impart their craft to the next generation of elite chefs, food professionals, and cooking enthusiasts.

In 2007, Hamilton launched The Italian Culinary Academy and its roster of intensive courses in response to overwhelming demand for the same rigorous education that guides The FCI curricula. Both schools reside in a state-of-the art 70,000-square-foot cooking and educational facility that Hamilton christened The International Culinary Center in late 2006. With its customized kitchen classrooms, library, and demonstration areas, The International Culinary Center is the realization of Hamilton’s vision of a destination where the top talent in every culinary discipline from around the globe frequently visit to hone, discuss, and teach their craft to the next generation of elite chefs, food professionals, and enthusiasts.

In late 2007, this vision came to life when Hamilton consulted with Failte Ireland, Ireland’s National Tourism Development Authority, to refine their two-year program into a nine-month hands-on education curriculum, designed to help with Ireland’s increasing attrition of trained chefs. With the overall goal of increasing the retention of chefs in Ireland, Hamilton’s intensive, hands-on learning technique helped Failte Ireland with their mission to uniquely promote the Irish hospitality industry.

Hamilton’s distinguished career in vocational education and her outstanding reputation for creating innovative programs in gastronomy has earned her numerous awards including a Silver Spoon award from Food Arts Magazine; the 2006 and 2010 IACP Award of Excellence for Vocational Cooking School; Chevalier du Mérite Agricole (Agricultural Merit Knighthood) from the French government; a knighting by the Association Internationale de Maîtres Conseil dans la Gastronomie Française; the Outstanding American Educator award from Madrid Fusion, the Diplôme d’Honneur of the Vatel Club des Etats-Unis, and Dame de l’Anée of the Académie Culinaire de France in 2006.

In 2001, Hamilton received the prestigious Ordre National du Mérite (National Order of Merit Award) from the French government, a designation second only to the legendary Legion of Honor. A past Chair of the board of the James Beard Foundation, and Chair Emeritus of the American Institute of Food and Wine, she was most recently inducted into the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America by the James Beard Foundation and was nominated for the Entrepreneur Award of Excellence by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Hamilton was also the creator and host of Chef’s Story, a 26-part television series, which debuted on PBS in April 2007, and the author of the companion book, Chef’s Story. The textbooks she conceived for the school—The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine and The Fundamental Techniques of Pastry Arts—both received James Beard Foundation Awards for best professional cookbook. Her book on culinary careers, Love What You Do: Building a Career in the Culinary Industry was published in the fall of 2009.

After graduating with a B.A. honors degree from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, Hamilton spent three years in the Peace Corps in Thailand where she was first introduced to Asian cuisine and fine French dining. She earned an M.B.A. from New York University.

Currently, Hamilton is on the board of Abraham House, a renowned incarceration alternative program and is a Trustee of the Pomfret School in Connecticut.

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meet the dean

CHEF CESARE CASELLA,
Dean of Italian Studies
Chef Casella enrolled in the Culinary Institute Ferdinando Martiniat the age of fourteen, and after graduating, he began transforming his family's restaurant, Vipore, from a local hangout into a well-known regional destination. By 1993, he had earned Vipore a Michelin star and a reputation that attracted patrons from Henry Kissinger to Tom Cruise. Chef Casella was then named Executive Chef of New York's Coco Pazzo and soon launched its sister restaurant, Il Toscanaccio. In March 2001, he opened his first solo New York restaurant, the critically acclaimed Beppe, followed in 2005 by Maremma, a Tuscan trattoria, named for the region in southwest Tuscany. Currently, he is the executive chef/partner at Manhattan's Salumeria Rosi, where he creates a special menu of trattoria-style Italian dishes for the restaurant and masterfully prepared foods-to-go for the salumi counter.

Chef Casella travels frequently between New York and Italy, staying on top of both cultures and culinary scenes. He has also written three books—Diary of a Tuscan Chef, Italian Cooking for Dummies, and True Tuscan—and has appeared on Food Network's Tyler's Ultimate, Molto Mario, and Martha Stewart Living. In 2005, Chef Casella brought his vision and dedication to students of The FCI as our first Dean of Italian Studies. He designed the curricula for our new Italian Culinary courses, including The Italian Culinary Experience, one of the most comprehensive training programs in Italian cuisine, culture, and language found anywhere in the world.

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