The book collects recipes of the Italian tradition – even back to the roman times – and modern recipes, some of them “decomposed and re-created” by Marcella. The aim is to show the “modern” in the ancient. The philosophy is “learn the rules then break them”.  
The target is to give a technical imprint and, because of that, letting the readers to become more challenging and free, as well as less intimidated, in the kitchen. 

It is a “text book”, where techniques are explained in an easy way and can be understood also by who has never studied biology, nutrition or chemistry.
It is complete with photos, at least one for each recipes. In some cases there are series of photos to explain the procedure. It is divided in 20 stages, starting from the Pasta, which is one of the “must” of the Italian culinary culture, going to a few techniques of the molecular cuisine.

The Pasta is present in 7 stages, explained with both cultural and historical side, and technical side. The formation of the gluten is the key of pasta making, and because of that, the recipes of Pasta – as well the whole book – go on increasing the difficulty: from basic pasta toward Pasta dough containing vegetables, nuts, beans. The recipes of Pasta offer also the way to explain the sauces and their techniques, giving ideas on how to change them depending season or personal creativity.

Each “group” of food is present in the book: broth and stock; risotto, gnocchi and soups; sauces (warm and cold); meats (lamb, chicken, veal, beef, wild boar, pork, duck, pigeon, guinea fowl); fish (sea bream, swordfish, tuna, salmon, preserved cod, anchovies, mollusk); sweets (mousse, chocolate, bavarian, biscotti..).

The book reflects the way of teaching of Marcella: gives information and leaves freedom to personal twists and intuitions.