Author Maria Centofanti Pritchard and illustrator Isabella Centofanti Alexander are sisters who grew up when life’s slower pace invited them to linger long at the dinner table and to listen to their parents tell of their Old World childhood adventures. To create The Night of La Befana, Maria and Isabella drew deeply on memories: their father’s birthplace in Italy, the hard-working villagers there, and their Italian grandmother who baked bread and sang the ninna nanna with joy and passion.
