Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Stefania Licari: I Can Make You Italian in 55 Minutes
Stefania Licari
Venue: Underbelly, Bristo Square
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A cheeky, warm and entertaining hour with plenty of laughs, celebrating family and all things Italian. Licari’s natural stage presence and comic flair keep the audience fully engaged and laughing along in a show full of charm, heart and humour that’s well worth seeing.
Review
Stefania Licari is a naturally warm and confident performer. A trained doctor turned comedian, she may be Sicily’s answer to Sarah Millican, with a little extra Mediterranean sunshine and positivity. She’s cheeky and, like a good pasta dish, saucy too. In her stylish black-and-white polka-dot dress and white neck scarf she looks as though garlic butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, but don’t be fooled. Licari is a strong, modern, educated woman, happy to talk about men and sex with continental confidence, poking fun at British awkwardness while exaggerating Italian life to comic effect.
Beneath the sparkle lie important ideas about family love and women’s roles, especially the ever-present mamma. According to Licari, her mother spent too much time in the kitchen making lasagne for the men and is still urging her daughter to move on from the antipasti-and-tasting-menu approach to partners, and finally settle on a husband. One of the problems we learn about so vividly is that the Prince Charming characters from the fairytales her mother once read to her are not always quite so charming in real life. Some of her descriptions of their behaviour had the audience gasping as well as laughing.
This is a fun 55-minute Edinburgh show: brash, bold and screeching around corners like a taxi in Milan. Towards the end there’s a gear change as sharp as that same vehicle tackling a steep hill, when the spotlight suddenly pulls us into something far more serious and personal. It’s real, it’s life and it’s important to share, though it might have landed more naturally if softened a touch. Then again, I may just be viewing it from the polite, reserved, uptight English side of the recinto, or fence.
We certainly learned how to walk and think like an Italian, and we also learned that when it comes to cooking pasta, us Brits still have some way to go. I would have liked more on the language, coffee culture, and the intricacies of the Italian menu. Perhaps if and when this show goes on tour, it could extend into a longer set with even more delightful insights. But those are ideas for another time. What we were served was molto bene; satisfying and full of flavour. The room was fully on board from the start, lapping it up like gelato on a hot day. There are plenty of laughs and plenty of charm from this talented, funny and engaging performer, with a lot of strong and very funny writing throughout. Although a couple of moments felt slightly looser, perhaps needing a sharper punch, they were never enough to dent the steady flow from a natural comic storyteller with irresistible warmth
Her mamma may have been surprised when her daughter swapped medicine for acting and comedy, but any disappointment or concern must surely have been short-lived. In this affectionate and highly entertaining tribute to Italy and to her family, Licari has done both proud.
