For me, Italian cooking is about more than just the food. It's about the land, the tradition, the hospitality, the history and the culture. Each recipe I make is filled with the love and passion my family has for pasta and Italian culture. This book will take you back to where it all began for me, Rome, where I was born, and Naples, where my family’s pasta legacy was built, and everywhere in between. 

If you’ve followed me for a while on social media, I’ve mentioned a few times that my family owned a pasta factory just outside Naples.  In this book, I talk about the connection they had with the land. On rich, volcanic soil they grew and harvested gorgeous golden wheat which was used to make the most delicious dried pasta in all of Italy.  The factory has since closed, but the tradition lives on through the priceless lessons they taught me, which I am now able to share with you. 

Recipes and ingredients can change based on how you feel in the moment and who’s coming over for dinner. When cooking for someone else, the ingredients you use should depend on the impression you want to make on that person and what emotions you want to bring out of them. One of my favorite things in life is knowing my ingredients, knowing what they do and what flavors they create. Different flavors bring out different feelings in people; you can pick and mix them to make the emotions you want in the kitchen.