Keep calling me a blogger

She's a familiar face for food and lifestyle enthusiasts, juggling countless successful ventures, but keep on calling her a blogger—better yet, a food blogger. Not just because she's one of the most influential in Italy, with millions of followers on social media and a decade-long career that took her from the kitchen to television, but because "it’s no longer a derogatory term. When I started and attended press conferences, journalists treated me poorly, and chefs perhaps even worse, but I owe everything to the blog".
Starting from that blog, Chiara Maci has transformed a personal passion into a successful business. Born in Agropoli, in the province of Salerno, and raised in Bologna, she now resides in Milan, maintaining a constant focus on creativity and quality. In her latest endeavors in the world of ceramics, too, she combines her love for design and craftsmanship.
Studies in law and corporate marketing, then life takes a completely different turn. When did you realize that your passion for cooking could become a full-fledged career?
CM: It didn't happen right away, but I quickly realized that law wasn't the path for me. My dream as a young girl was to attend an art school and then move on to communication studies. Instead, my strict parents wanted me to have a more structured path, which led to my choice of law. So, being someone who always saw things through, I completed my degree. But my true idol was Oriana Fallaci, the one I believe truly taught me how to write.

After graduation, I pursued a master's in media relations.
CM: And from there, the world of work: first in a press office, then in the marketing department at Sky during its golden age with unlimited budgets. I enjoyed it a lot, but not enough. I was determined to turn my passion into a job.

And I left my stable position.
CM: Back then, quitting a secure job was considered madness. When I said I was going to open a catering business, everyone looked at me stunned.

From marketing to catering?
CM: Keep in mind that I was born into a food and wine family. I've been a sommelier since I was 18. My mother cooks like a goddess and even had a restaurant in Bologna, while my father is obsessed with cooking and knows all the wines, year by year. For our family, cooking has always been a form of culture. Vacations were chosen based on the restaurants we wanted to try, and then we explored the surrounding areas. So I decided to put my marketing skills to good use on myself.

Well, this is an important point: talent and passion are not enough.
CM: If there's no strategy, love alone isn't enough. I believe that law taught me the rules, and my hard work in business gave me the method. Now it's my mindset. For instance, I’m in the kitchen, and before me is the list of household rules.

What difficulties did you encounter when building a business around your work?
CM: Moments of crisis have always been part of the journey. When I started writing the blog, I didn't fit into any category: I had no role, I hadn't studied hospitality, and I wasn't a journalist. I faced people's judgment every day. Quitting would have been the easy option, but I found the strength to keep going by reminding myself that I was doing it for me.
Even today, now that I'm well-known, have written five books, with a novel about to be released, and I run a studio, people still see me as a blogger. And when I attend a conference or appear on TV and they ask how I want to be introduced, I have them present me exactly like that.
Often, we inhibit ourselves in the face of duties, the mortgage, the bills, and do not pursue our true passions.

To all the guests of your podcast Ritratti di famiglia, dedicated to second and third-generation business owners, here's a question for you: What would you have pursued in life if your parents hadn't owned this business? Many of them replied that they would have wanted to do something completely different. What about you?
CM: Now, I'm doing what I always dreamed of: writing my first novel. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's an immense joy, one I could never have achieved without the rest of the journey behind me. And when people ask me if I'm taking on too much, I get mad as hell. It's against my nature to limit myself, especially because writing, painting, sculpting, and cooking are all activities that are interconnected.

Can you tell us something about your novel?
CM: It's about single parenthood, a situation I know well. But it's the story of a woman completely unlike me: she doesn't love her life and isn't someone who takes action, but rather someone who simply endures. However, with her daughter and the female lineage of her family, she realizes that there is always time. Similar to my own journey, today I write all day, doing what I've always wanted to do.
Yes, in a way, it's all about my own routines: for example, for me, it's normal to get up to make the dough for tigelle, then go back to the computer and get up again to bake a cake. But writing gives me great freedom. Throughout these years, I've pushed hard on the accelerator to show who I am and how much I'm worth. Today, I'm more balanced, and writing allows me to avoid always putting myself out there: I can do it in my pyjamas, maybe without makeup. The one who really needs to put herself out there is my protagonist, whom I already love dearly.

For athletes, victory is the exceptional feat: only one wins, and everyone below second place loses. What is failure?
CM: My very first blog was called "Io in fila" (Me in line). Such a beautiful concept that I had it tattooed on my wrist. Because I always felt like I was in line. I've never been first, and I enjoy waiting for my turn, knowing it will come eventually, but without trying to rush it. Reaching the top without being ready is worse than failing. A month after opening the ceramic workshop, I was asked to participate in the Salone del Mobile in Milan. I refused, it wasn't possible for me to be ready in time. I'm still unsure of where I'll end up first. I don't compete anymore, as a girl I used to, now I'm writing my story in my own way. It's a passage of age.

How important is it to have fun?
CM: Good question. I'm not one to have a lot of fun. I often find myself justifying it because, for work, I travel across Italy, meet fascinating people, and sample exclusive foods and wines. I often think to myself: how cool. However, my psychologist points out that this is work, fun is something different. A crazy New Year's Eve in Marrakech with friends? I haven't done it in years. I was taught to always put duty and family first. If you can have fun with that duty and family, then you've hit the jackpot. For now, I’m having fun, but the other kind of fun will come when the kids grow up.

Could you tell us about your new adventure with ceramics and the Piano Terra project?
CM: Come to think of it, it's crazy. Two years ago, during an emotionally difficult period, I enrolled in a ceramics course, and it was love at first sight. It was the same feeling I experienced 15 years earlier with cooking. Then, course after course, I realised I needed to make the leap: after two months, I searched for a property for the studio, and two weeks later, I bought it. It is a small space in the Brera area of Milan. The name is a team effort.

With whom?
CM: My daughter Bianca, 11, and my son Andrea, 7. I've kept the brainstorming sheets. We went from "Il laboratorio della pupù" ("The laboratory of poo") to "Piano Terra" ("Ground Floor"), which is exactly what I was looking for and which was born from a shared intuition. Ceramics puts everyone on the same level; it's inclusive. It starts with humble materials like earth and water, yet you can create anything you desire. In addition, nothing is ever wrong because it's your creation, with its unique soul and originality. This is very different from cooking. If I create an imperfect vase, it might actually be better than industrial perfection.

What did you learn with the clay in your hands?
CM: Slowness. Just like with cooking, it all starts with touching the ingredient. I love kneading bread, pizzas and focaccia. Even with clay, I use a rolling pin and a cutting board. The tools in the kitchen and in the laboratory are similar. But then there's the kiln, and that's where the real difference lies. The kiln for ceramics reaches 1300 degrees, and it takes 45 days before you can see the finished product. You can't rush the process.

First successes?
CM: For Christmas, I delivered over 200 dishes. It's clear that I'm just starting out, but it's me. Once again, I enjoy the journey. In my life, I've moved 11 times, from a shared house to the one I have now, which makes me feel that I've achieved some concrete goals. I’d like to do the same with ceramics: help others understand the journey.

And what are the main stages?
CM: I believe that ceramics can represent the closing of the circle that was opened by cooking. I love being able to craft the vessels for my food, set the table with my dishes, create the stands for my cakes, and drink from my own cups. Finally, I would like to make use of my connections in fine dining, which allow me to meet chefs, learn about their personalities and quirks, and create one-of-a-kind pieces for their restaurants.

What is your relationship with Milan? How much has this city affected your career and career choices?
CM: I've written dozens of posts about it. Milan is the city I chose, but my first post after my master's was: "Milan, I'm leaving, because you don't teach people how to embrace each other". I felt alone, in a city full of lonely people. Then after only a year I came back, because I missed it. And after 17 years, I'm still here.

What did you miss about it?
CM: It's a city that needs to be explored. It's the city that can make your dreams come true, but you have to discover it. Even today, my daughter and I go and discover hidden corners, and I find that desire to grow, which I still have myself. But above all, I realized that it's not the cities that embrace, but the people. And it was I who didn't know how to open up to people.

Do you have a special place close to your heart?
CM: I have a few. One is the Pinacoteca di Brera. I love that atmosphere, those walls. Art fascinates me, even if once inside a museum you could be anywhere in the world. I also love Parco Sempione, which once felt a bit intimidating, but now it's bright and full of memories with the children. Then Leonardo's locks, which I used to see from a window in a house where I once lived. Or again, the Navigli, which I visit less often, but which always radiate energy.

Before we finish, could you reveal if there's an ingredient you truly hate?
CM: Ah, oysters are the only thing I really don't eat. I also don't like innards, which are not part of my family tradition. The love for ingredients stems from personal history. Not surprisingly, don't mess with my basil or buffalo mozzarella! From a culinary point of view, they are really very "southern". For me, home is wherever I smell garlic and cherry tomatoes sizzling in the pan. Then again, I might visit Piedmont and get emotional over plin, but I grew up in Cilento, and if I have to choose, I seek places where simplicity becomes flavor.

Last stop on your journey through passions: biographies. If you had to write yours in two lines, how would you end this interview?
CM: Chiara Maci, from law to cooking, through marketing, television, and ceramics. Like someone searching for their path and eventually discovering their own story.