As highlighted in Books from Scotland’s Press Play Issue.

About the Book:

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.

Writing as a passionate food aficionada, Anne Pia has created a convivial and open-hearted cookery book that invites you into her kitchen. In Magnaccioni, she shares her own family recipes and the 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.

Get ready to listen to Italian music, pour a glass of wine and enjoy cooking with Anne. Join her in becoming 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. CAV. 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. CAV GIOVANNA EUSEBI

Committed to breaking down all forms of barriers, she is certainly one of the most promising literary voices in Scotland today. MANUELA D’AMORE, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Catania.

Another iconic piece of Pia's intense and fascinating writing, Magnaccioni is more than a cookery book. It combines family memories, intimate reflections and research, but more importantly, it turns the act of reading into a suggestive sensory experience: vividly depicting the explosion of colours, perfumes and extraordinary tastes of Italian most popular dishes, it presents a complex, multi-layered vision of food culture. Yet, Magnaccioni also provides evidence of the vitality of Italian British literary writings. In line with a long tradition which began in Scotland on the eve of World War 2, Pia has proposed her special journey through time and space as a further step towards the creation of an ideal bridge between Britain and the bel paese. Specialist and non-specialist readers will be captured by this new piece of hybrid prose and will consider it as an essential component of the discourse on transnational identities in contemporary times. MANUELA D’AMORE, Associate Professor of English Literature, University of Catania.

If you liked Stanley Tucci’s Taste, you’ll love this. SCOTTISH FIELD

Praise for Anne Pia:

Language of My Choosing throws fresh light on the Italian community in Scotland and gives its women their individual voice in a new way. This story resonates with the challenges of migration and immigration which we continue to face today.  Donald Smith, Director of the Scottish Storytelling Centre on Language of My Choosing

The language of the title is that of the author’s self-realisation, as a professional, a mother and an artist. That language, born between different cultures, communities and religions, and between public and domestic life, emerges grateful, nurturing and affirmative. Meg Bateman, Poet on Language of My Choosing

Bold and honest, raw at times but ultimately celebratory, beautifully written and razor-sharp; a wonderful blend of autobiography and social history.  Ann Marie Di Mambro, Playwright and Television Screenwriter on Language of My Choosing

This is the story of a brave and clever woman who refused to deliver the lines that had been prepared for her by the Scottish Italian community that had both nurtured and wounded her. So she set about finding a language of her own choosing that would express the passions of her own restless soul. She has written a book that will challenge its readers to tear up all the scripts society has written for them and find their own words. Richard Holloway on Language of My Choosing

Distinctive and strong. Dr Terri Colpi, University of St Andrews, author of The Italian Factor on Language of My Choosing

No one can question Pia’s lust for life... unquestionably a fire sign, fuelled for creativity, experiment, exploration and expansion, with bravado enough to voice her view; a feminist in the face of ‘male oracles’. This book is a tentative embrace with poetry. Janette Ayachi on Keeping Away the Spiders

Brimming with insight, poetry and music. Sandra Irelandon Keeping Away the Spiders

Book Trailer: