Maggiari, Director of the Italian Program at the College of Charleston, has been writing and studying poetry since he was in high school in Genoa, Italy. After graduation, Maggiari attended college in Italy. In 1980, he was accepted into an exchange  program at the University of Washington, where he would earn a master's degree.  His education path continued at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he would attain his doctorate. 

Maggiari's first compilation of poems was published in South Africa in 1996, while he taught Clemson University. Since then he has published many other works. Most of Maggiari's works have a common theme of discovery, whether it be self-discovery or the discovery of the beauty surrounding us in nature.

He has won several awards for his poetry. In 2001, he was the winner of "La Poesia Incontra," a prestigious slam poetry contest held annually in Italy. Maggiari read a series of two poems that he had written after September 11th to win the competition. Maggiari says his daughter inspired him to write these poems. "I returned home from work after September 11th, and my daughter was dressed as Xena the Warrior Princess because she wanted to protect her family," said Maggiari.

In addition to winning "La Poesia Incontra," Maggiari has also received the Italo Alighiero Chiusano Award in Frascati, in 1999 for his first book “Terre Lontane” ("Lands Away").

The work that Maggiari is most proud of though is “Aurora Borealis.”  “Aurora Borealis” is a work in which Maggiari was able to express his true passions: travel and poetry. "I was able to combine my life experiences of traveling with my literary interest," he says. “Aurora Borealis” was published in 2004, and its topic is Norwegian explorer Roald Engelbert Amundsen. According to colleague  Jorge Marban the work " introduces the reader to a work of magic and beauty, and to a quest that symbolizes man's inspiration to conquer his limits and ascend in unison with the spiritual forces of the Universe."