Born and raised in southern Italy, “Delfi” grew up in and around the family kitchen, and from a very young age she regularly prepared meals alongside her grandmother, mother and aunt. “It’s like how you learn to speak, it’s just automatic; that’s how I learned to cook,” she says, her perfect English peppered by an unmistakably Italian accent. “My mother, she wakes up, she starts to cook — and she’s a nurse, too, so she’s very busy — and then we eat, and then she’s ready to start thinking about dinner.

The kitchen is the place in Italy where you spend most of your time. It’s almost an obsession.” Whether it was forging fresh pasta from scratch; perfecting the art of ricotta and mozzarella cheese-making; chopping homegrown, aromatic vegetables and herbs; stirring pots of warm sauces on the stovetop; or baking decadent Italian desserts, Ciampi was constantly surrounded by the magic of the kitchen — and was learning how to make that magic herself.