Passion, seasonality, and flair. The key ingredients of the chef at Pineta 1903 restaurant. 

A native Furorese, he began dabbling behind the stove as a child in the family restaurant based in Agerola. In this short interview, the Slow Food Alliance of Chefs chef talks about himself. 

What prompted you to pursue the profession of chef?

It was a natural evolution, even a little bit pushed by others. My family had a restaurant specializing in weddings in Agerola, and I was already helping out at the age of 9. 

Where do you find inspiration to create your dishes? 

Inspiration comes daily, especially from the inputs nature gives us every day. From the seasonality of ingredients, then, and products. And then, of course, from inspiration. 

What are your signature dishes?

There is no real one; they are all signature dishes. However, in every recipe, there has to be a particular ingredient, which is passion. If there is no passion, nothing gets made. By putting, therefore, passion into every dish, then they all become top dishes. Perhaps, I have a slight preference for first courses because we are we saw our grandmothers who were great housewives and cooks. 

What do you cook at home for your children?

We try to cook what they like but also take up our grandmothers’ traditions: soups with vegetables, meat, rabbit, chicken, etc. And then some result in dishes, that is, created with leftovers from the day before because nothing is thrown away at home. One example is the pasta frittata. We educate our children not to waste anything.