Victoria, 49, Contracts Officer

Growing up in a typical Italian home, Pia’s family celebrated every occasion in great culinary style and she says the smells of her childhood linger to this day. There was always a pasta sauce on the boil and rows of fresh pasta hanging in the kitchen.

The family would routinely sit down for big family dinners, a tradition that Pia has maintained with her own family, husband Tony and children Daniel and Alyssa.

Following university, Pia worked as a gym manager and swimming school director for 10 years before further studying writing and proofreading, with the dream of one day writing her own series of children’s books. She now works for the CSIRO as a contracts officer.

Pia says her strength in the MasterChef Australia kitchen will not only be her Italian food background, but also her skill at replicating restaurant dishes by taste. Often she will eat out with her family and be so impressed by a dish that she will list the ingredients and the method used to create it.

A lover of travel, Pia trekked through Italy, Greece, Israel, France, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong to experience their cuisines. Pia is inspired by Rick Stein, Stefano Di Pieri, Jacques Reymond and Massimo Bottura.

Pia dreams of putting together her closely-guarded family recipes, handed down from generation to generation, in a cookbook so her own children can one day enjoy it. Together with her husband Tony she would like to open her own food and wine bar and would like to host pasta degustation pop-up dinners.