About Amelia

Ciao! My name is Amelia Pane Schaffner. I am an Italian gal from Sorrento and Rome. I have been refining my culture, curiosity, and culinary passions ever since I can remember. 

I write about trying to stay true to my Italian cultural and culinary roots while living abroad in America (Atlanta, Georgia). 

My day job is at Emory University, where I co-founded a Center for entrepreneurship and innovation (and prior to that I was a strategy consultant with Accenture). I love stretching both left and right side of my brain in my life, from quantitative to innovative and creative.  

I aspire to share my passions in a book one day, following in my parents’ footsteps: Mariano and Rita Pane, who have written multiple books, most famously Tastes of the Southern Italy (“I Sapori del Sud”), which was published by Rizzoli in 1991 and subsequently reprinted numerous times in their BUR edition.

I am an avid reader and researcher and write merely out of passion and extreme curiosity. I can read and translate in two dead languages (Greek, Latin) and multiple living languages (Italian, French, German, English), especially poetry and philosophy.

In 2008, I received a culinary arts certificate at a local university, I have taught classes privately, written articles for magazines such as Edible Atlanta, presented on conference panels, and appeared on local TV cooking segments at WXIA/Channel 11. 

My other life passions include philosophy, poetry, photography (if you click the photography menu above you can see a small sampling), the visual arts, travelling, and the outdoors. I have two teenage boys and a husband, who is American. My family of origin lives in Italy, where I visit as often as I can, and plan to move in the near future.