Artisanal Handcrafted Pizzas
Cuisine: Italian
★ Accredited Food Safety Supervisor
I grew up in a small medieval hilltop village in Tuscany. My mother is from Sardinia, so I also have a big family there and feel blessed to be of both origins. The Sardinian culture is very rich in tradition, art and folklore as well as cooking. One of the Blue zones of centenaries is there.
Tuscany is rich in art, music, community, and food as well.My mother is a great cook, and my Sardinian family has been involved in hospitality for many years and I remember going to this big kitchens, cool rooms, waiting sections and back of the bar to visit my relatives running a famous golf course resort in South Sardinia
I always considered myself to be a good cook, creating traditional Tuscan regional dishes using single ingredients.I really became passionate about pizza making 25 years ago once I left Italy. In Italy there are many ways of pizza formats, so I never felt the need to make it. I could eat any meal of the day.
Once I left, I wanted to have that experience, so I came across a friend in London that showed me how to make the dough, and something clicked in me. Once I came to Australia a short time after that, I somehow became obsessed with it. I always considered the dough making a sort of alchemy. I also could see how new and old friends really enjoyed the experience of making dough and baking it at home, sharing each one creation in a house pizza party.
Once a friend suggested turning that experience into a business and short after I was one of the first pizza caterers in Sydney. Since 2005 I have baked for thousands of people in hundreds of houses and offices across Sydney, music festivals and markets. And for a few years with my brother, we also did corporate team building around Australia for major corporations, flying the pizza ovens on the airplanes to the Major cities’ interstate.
In 2014 we opened a pizza restaurant in Paddington called Italian Bar that we successfully ran for 8 years.Once we finished the venture, my pizza making passion was still stronger than ever and I took a new twist and evolved my dough to a more contemporary innovative method.Also baking focaccia and managing a local café in Manly I got connected with people and infused my passion for pizza and baking and started a business with my wife Luci, supplying vacuum sealed pizzas on preorder to our local community and the Northern Beaches!