about me

Totally self-taught, at the age of eight I started mixing flour, yeast and potatoes.
In 1998 Lia Rumma asked me to become the chef of her contemporary art gallery and to cook for artists such as Thomas Ruff, William Kentridge, Vanessa Beecroft, Marina Abramovic, Joseph Kosuth, Mimmo Jodice, Ilya Kabakov, Franco Scognamiglio, Ottonella Mocellin and Nicola Pellegrini, Dré Wapenaar and Anselm Kiefer.
In 2004 Renate Graf and Anselm Kiefer proposed to me to move with them to Barjac, in France.
The daily contact with Kiefer’s work, the long silences and the strong energy of that place, made me think for a long time about what is really important in life.
Barjac’s experience has greatly influenced my work and my way of life. From my dishes the superfluous has disappeared to give space exclusively to the essence of raw materials.
My kitchen has become extremely simple and delicate made with ingredients, with strong and decisive flavors, typical of Southern Italy; at the same time, my taste and my mind opened up to new flavors, such as Indian and African spices.
I collaborated several times with the kitchen of the Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici under the direction of Richard Peduzzi.
In 2007 another special opportunity … the kitchen of the Albergo Il Monastero di Ischia located inside the Aragonese Castle, suspended halfway between sky and sea, a unique place in the world.

From January 2011 to July 2012 I was the chef of the 12 bis bar, Paris.