Monday, April 30 | 7 p.m. Carnegie Library Lecture Hall | 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh 15213. The History Center's Italian American Program is proud to be a marketing sponsor of Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's lecture and book signing. Lidia's story begins with her upbringing in Pula, a formerly Italian city turned Yugoslavian under Tito's communist regime.

When the communist regime begins investigating the family, they flee to Trieste, Italy, where they spend two years in a refugee camp waiting for visas to enter the United States - an experience that will shape Lidia for the rest of her life. At age 12, she starts a new life in New York, soon working in restaurants as a young teenager.

Lidia's newest book, "My American Dream," is a heartwarming, emotional, revelatory memoir told with all her hallmark warmth and gusto. She tells in great, vivid detail the fulfillment of that dream: her close-knit family, her dedication and endless passion for food that ultimately leads to multiple restaurants, many cookbooks, and twenty years on public television as the host of her own cooking show.

Tickets are $34 and include a copy of Lidia's new memoir, "My American Dream."

Click here to purchase tickets online. Tickets may also be purchased via phone 412-622-8866 or at the door of the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall from 6 p.m. on the day of the program.