Peter Chiarella

Peter Chiarella is the accomplished author of historical novels “Calabrian Tales” and “Out of Calabria.” An Italian-American with a rich ancestral past, Peter Chiarella focuses his writing on families living in turn of the century Calabria, Italy. Mr. Chiarella’s books encompass the stories of his family’s past and the events that led them to leave Italy to begin their life anew in America. At the heart of “Calabrian Tales” is the story of Peter Chiarella’s great aunt Marianna, who rose through Italian society as the mistress of the wealthy noble for which her family worked. Her choices so shamed the family that eventually Mr. Chiarella’s father fled Italy. Peter Chiarella’s second book, “Out of Calabria,” focuses on his maternal family, with stories detailing the inherent strength of the family’s female members and the difficult choices they faced. Throughout both books, Peter Chiarella weaves the historical struggles of Calabria into the narration, illustrating the pain and hardships that Calabria’s residents faced in the 19th century.

Peter Chiarella grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, where his Nonna first introduced him to his family’s stories. Today, Peter Chiarella is the Founder and Owner of Crane Family Vineyards, a small family-run winery in California’s Napa Valley. Mr. Chiarella founded the winery, a lifelong dream of his, after a successful career as a Certified Public Accountant and later as a Chief Financial Officer for a Fortune 500 company.

When he is not working, Peter Chiarella enjoys biking, wine tasting, and writing. A voracious reader, Peter Chiarella particularly enjoys the works of Frank McCourt, Upton Sinclair, and fellow Italian writers Melania Mazzucco and Mario Puzo.

Peter Chiarella lives in Napa, California with his wife of 54 years.