Anessa grew up in a small town in Rhode Island, born to an Italian dad and a Yugoslav mom. Early on, she started to photograph food: small meatballs, pallottine, atop spaghetti alla chitarra, and the chestnuts of one of my favorite desserts, kesten pire–and document it on her blog foodfinessa.com

Food is a large part of every Italian-American household. In her home, each day, especially Sunday, was filled with dishes with rich heritages. Her father’s family is from Abruzzo and Campania, specifically Sulmona near Pescara and Formicola and Roccamonfina outside Naples. She studied the coffee culture of Naples, located at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius, where dark roast, my favorite roast, reigns supreme.

Her lifelong interest in coffee has led to writing food stories for local newspapers and online publications. Anessa’s day job since graduating from Brown University has been software engineering.