I returned to my family home in Liguria this year to celebrate Easter—a day that, for most Italians, is synonymous with gathering. As dozens of relatives sat around a table laden with colourful vegetables and roasted meats, a scene from a book came to mind and lingered. It unfolds like this. It is Easter in a small town in southern Italy. The grandmothers wake up at dawn, pulling down jar after jar of preserved…