Magnaccioni

Magnaccioni: (Roman dialect) people who live to eat well. 

I know no other word that captures that rare gift, that supremely basic human quality of eating with mind, eyes and heart and radiating uncontainable pleasure in so doing.

In Magnaccioni, Anne Pia wants to make you feel tempted, greedy. She celebrates her heritage, the way of life, food, wine, music and dialect of southern Italy.

Writing as a passionate food aficionada, she shares family recipes and food she has enjoyed in Italy based on la cucina povera, la cucina di terra – the use of fresh produce and simple ingredients to create sumptuous, joyful feasts. This book is a glorious and bold celebration of a very special culture and a fundamental way of looking at life and food which Anne is proud to call her own.

Wine and music are essential in the mix that is southern Italian life. Anne guides you through her own pairings to her food so that you may join her in becoming joyful magnaccioni!

Reviews: 

In Magnaccioni poet and author Anne Pia departs from familiar forms, creating a book of recipes, philosophy and well-being that reflects the culture of her native Southern Italy. BOOKSFROMSCOTLAND

This is more than a cookery book. It is a glorious 'Te Deum' to Italy expressed through food, wine, music and anecdote. When you feel the 'nostalgia d'Italia' really badly and can't hop on a flight straight away, open this book, plunge in and all will be well. RONNIE COVERY, Honorary Italian Consul

You will not read Anne Pia's 'Magnaccioni', you will devour it.'  FRANCESCA CONTINI MACKIE, Valvona & Crolla Ltd.

This is a book not to be simply read and admired, but one destined to become a close companion in the kitchen, simultaneously feeding the body and soul. With prose which demands to be read and recipes just begging to be cooked, all written with a style and poetic flair which we have come to expect from Anne Pia, Magnaccioni: My Food... My Italy stands alongside the work of Diane Henry, Simon Hopkinson, and Nigel Slater – writers whose cookbooks you return to again and again. Anne Pia's Magnaccioni: My Food... My Italy is a hymn to eating well as part of living life to the full. This appetite is evident on every page, inspiring not only conversations about food and drink, but music, philosophy, history, friends, and family. ALISTAIR BRAIDWOOD, Scots Whay Hae!

Magnaccioni, a cookery book that not only teaches you to cook like an Italian but also to live like one. Get ready to don your dancing shoes and indulge in authentic recipes with Anne Pia's celebration of Italy. GIOVANNA EUSEBI

It's easy to romanticise Italian food culture, but this book doesn’t aim to do that. It’s about sharing joy, real food inspired by precious heritage, reminding us of all of the pleasures of the table and what this can add to our lives. Whether a fellow Italophile or not, this is surely something that we can all get behind. Buon appetite! FIONA RICHMOND, Bite Magazine

About the Author:

DR ANNE PIA, poet, essayist and translator writes in English, French, Italian and Scots. She is a Saltire Award Finalist, a winner of the Crawford Gallery Cork, Flash Fiction Competition and in 2018 was awarded the prestigious Premio Flaiano Italianistica: La Cultura Italiana nel Mondo. She is also a member of the Guild of Food Writers and in 2022 and 2033 was invited to sit on the judging panel for the Scottish National Book Awards (Poetry). She been invited to review several poetry collections and her poetry and essays have appeared online and UK-wide.

Within a span of 13 years, since retirement, Anne has published three books of non-fiction, 2 full poetry collections and a poetry pamphlet. Her creative memoir and first book, Language of My Choosing was shortlisted for the Saltire Award for Best New Book of 2017 and the Italian language translation, Ho Scelto La Mia Lingua was published in 2018; Keeping Away The Spiders; Essays on Breaching Barriers was published in November 2020 by Luath Press; and Magnaccioni My Food My Italy, a celebration in poetic prose of the culture and way of life in southern Italy, the place of her origins, was published in 2023. 

 Her first poetry collection, Transitory, was published in 2018 and The Sweetness of Demons with translations from French, an oversetting of 14 poems by Baudelaire in Les Fleurs du Mal, was published by Vagabond Voices in April 2021. Dragons Wear Lipstick her poetry pamphlet, a tribute to the women in her life who have in big and small ways, detonated hierarchies, was published by Dreich  in November 2022.

Anne’s work focuses on cultural and sexual identity, and is firmly rooted in her European heritage and cultural interests. She has read at the Stanza International Poetry Festival, SEALL in Skye, the Dundee Literary Festival, Southbank Poetry London, the Paisley and Portobello Book Festivals, Porty Pride, the Burns Birthplace Museum and independent bookshops across Scotland. She is listed in the Scottish Poetry Library Catalogue of Scottish Poets and is a regular contributor to poetry and literary gatherings in Edinburgh, Glasgow and more widely in Scotland. In 2018 she was a guest lecturer at the British Institute in Florence.

Anne has a strong background in Education and leadership.