Italy’s favourite TikTok influencer thinks most people on the platform should get a real job. She has worked as a cleaner, a seamstress, a poultry wholesaler, a wine and olive oil maker — and she is an 84-year-old grandmother.
Silvana Bini, who found fame with her videos cooking classics such as carbonara and lasagne, was voted TikTokker of the year at a glitzy awards ceremony in Milan this week, after taking the lion’s share of the 2.6 million votes cast.
She is not, however, letting it go to her head. “I don’t watch TikTok. It doesn’t interest me and I believe most of the people on it should be doing a proper day’s work,” she said.
That is the kind of unflinching honesty that has made her a social media hero in Italy, racking up 2.1 million followers on TikTok, with a total of 8 million across Instagram and other platforms.
Her grandson, Gabriele Martini, 29, who makes and posts the videos, said: “In a fast-paced world based on appearances, she’s real and she chats to the camera like it’s a person.
“She doesn’t really know how to use her phone, and when people meet her and say, ‘You are just like on TikTok’, she replies, ‘How else should I be?’”
Bini found fame with her cooking videos and has more than 2 million followers on TikTok
Martini first got the idea to post videos of his granny in 2023 when he was looking for ways to promote the family bakery in Montespertoli near Florence.
“We couldn’t afford those ads with perfect, designer panettone cakes, but then a picture we posted of granny holding a slightly wonky panettone got loads of sales. I thought we should post videos of her and it all exploded,” he said.
“She was initially against it, but she’s an entrepreneur and was keen to sell things,” he added. “She needs to work or she gets sick.”
Nonna Silvi became a social media star by promoting Tuscan recipes, particularly desserts
On TikTok she is singing as she puts together tuna pasta, telling 12 million viewers “look how beautiful this is”, and exclaiming “it’s telling me to eat it” as she produces a carbonara for 35 million viewers.
Despite sharing her favourite recipes, Bini is urging her followers to improvise. “Following recipes a hundred per cent is the biggest mistake in cooking — you need to improvise with what you have,” she said.
Nonna Silvi beat far younger social media stars
Her favourite meal? “I am happy with garlic, oil, chilli pepper and pasta,” she said.
Martini added: “It’s very anti-gourmet. She cooks in a huge pan and the staff at the bakery get to eat it.”
Bini’s success comes at a good moment for Italian grandmothers after they were championed by the UK YouTube channel Pasta Grannies, as well as by Jamie Oliver, the British chef, who crisscrossed Italy to get recipes from them.
Joe Scaravella, the Brooklyn-based restaurateur, opened a successful venue where all the chefs were Italian grandmothers, inspiring the Netflix film Nonnas.
Martini said: “Italy is built around the family and the nonna is central to that, but now that we increasingly get food delivered rather than waiting for nonna to spend six hours on a sauce, it is at risk of fading.”
She is filmed by her grandson as she kneads, bakes and gives advice on how to prepare traditional dishes
Bini offered a characteristically outspoken defence of grannies. “Italy’s getting older and us nonnas with our miserable pensions are supporting families, so if you don’t pay attention to them, it’s on your head.”
Dining and Cooking