Hundreds of thousands of tourists pass through the city of Venice each year, eat at trattorie, and leave having dined in Venice, but not having eaten well.

It is the food cooked in homes and made with local ingredients, the recipes passed down through generations – which Venetians guard ferociously and exclusively for their own gratification – that is Venetian food. It is romantic and it is exotic. It dapples in spices, and delightfully foreign flavours. It's pine nuts and raisins, bay leaves and sweet vinegar, heady saffron and creamy mascarpone.

It's a legacy of a maritime republic that once upon a time journeyed across the seas, gathering culinary gems from as far and wide as Turkey, Greece and China, and then over generations wove them into the city until they became the way of living and eating. For Skye it is the food of her childhood, laden with nostalgia, synonymous with comfort and the source of an endless fascination.

Some of the recipes in Dolce Vita are translated and barely adapted from the old Venetian cookbooks. Other dishes are more loosely inspired by Venice, by the ingredients, by the flavours, and by everyday life there. All of the recipes are typical of Skye's cooking style: simple, fresh, colourful and always plentiful, and offer a rare glimpse into the tastes and secrets of a true Venetian kitchen.