When I moved to Florence (Tuscany) for my post-graduate studies in Internal Medicine, I was already a Slow Food member (which at the time was still known as arcigola!). I immediately became involved with the Florentine chapter, which at the time was directed by Leonardo Romanelli. I have been among the authors of the guide on Italian ‘Osterie’ (typical local restaurants) published by Slow Food; over the years, I have played a role in the organization of several wine and food events held by the Florence Slow Food chapter, a list of which can be found on my website.
I was a contributor for a gastronomic guide on Florentine restaurants– “I cento di Firenze”, EDT (Lonely Planet) publisher, also available on iTunes.
I’ve been recognized as Ambassador for Bufala Mozzarella in the world: I was officially invested by the Director and President of the Consortium for Bufala Mozzarella (Protected Denomination of Origin) in Paris, during a theme dinner held at the restaurant Septime.
I supplied enogastronomic expertise to The Curious Eater.
You can also keep track of the most interesting wine and food events in and around Florence by checking my calendar: I regularly update it.
Golagioconda has published some of my gastronomic reviews; I also write for Luciano Pignataro’s website.
I was involved in the Wine Town project: I organized the opening night for the third and fourth editions, and was also responsible for selecting the street food specialties offered during the fourth edition (2013).
I’m a pizza enthusiast, so I decided it was time to bring authentic pizza culture to Florence by inviting master pizza chefs to town, such as the famous and award-winning Franco Pepe in January and May 2013, and the famous Neapolitan pizza maker Ciro Salvo, in May 2013.
I was invited to moderate the Kiln: Bread and Pizza. I’ve been in Turin, at the Slow Food Salone del Gusto 2014, for four days heldng the workshops of the Kiln: Bread and Pizza with some of the most famous Italian pizzaioli, i.e. Franco Pepe, Ciro Salvo, Stefano Callegari and many others.
I was chosen by Daniel Young as Regional Expert ( Tuscany, Italy) for the first edition of the world guidebook WHERE TO EAT PIZZA, edited by Phaidon: 1706 pizza places in 48 countries around the world.
Already available: you can buy the world pizza guide on Phaidon.com and on laFeltrinelli.it (published on April 2016).
I collaborated at the “pizza travels” of Modernist Pizza (over 250 pizzerias visited all over the world) taking care of the chapter of Tuscany: I organized, in 2018, the stay and visits on site to introduce some of the excellent pizzajuoli working in Tuscany to Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya.
The result is the most monumental book on pizza ever published: over 1700 pages in 3 volumes plus one with 3700 photos and over 1000 recipes.
It was a privilege to have collaborated on the chapter dedicated to Tuscany of Modernist Pizza, of the Modernist Cuisine series.
