Fabio's Spotlight, April 2021

I’m Fabio. I was born on this Earth in 1970. I am a European citizen. I come from Southern Italy, the Region of Campania, the Province of Naples, Trecase - a small village at the foot of Vesuvius.

​

I was born into a big family. The center of the house was the kitchen, where all of our family gatherings, discussions, and dramas took place. One of the main subjects of discussion was food, when we outdid ourselves in heated argument about who was the best at making special dishes, who knew the best ingredients, and who knew where to buy them – I believe that it was through this that my passion for cooking was born. 

Like many of my generation, I spent much of my childhood in the courtyard between football matches and a myriad of other games. My teenage years were carefree, aided by my homeland, between the sea and the pine woods of Vesuvius, where authentic friendships were born.

​

At the age of 21 I went to visit my sister and found myself in Arezzo. A week turned into a month and I found myself an apartment. I had decided to stay. At the time, Arezzo offered many different work opportunities, but my choice fell naturally in the field of catering. My professional experience began by washing glasses in one of the few pubs in the center of the town. Since then, I have worked in a variety of food venues and even opened my own bar-restaurant in one of Arezzo’s main squares.

​

I have been working at OU in Arezzo for about four years now. My experience at OUA has taken me back to the kitchen and has given me the possibility to express myself in a new way. Contact with students from different cultures stimulates my curiosity in the kitchen. My conversations with them have motivated me to experiment with new dishes and flavors that have added to my classic Italian repertoire.

​

Along with the rest of the team, I am looking forward to welcoming back the students and to beginning our journey again, resuming the intercultural give-and-take that is a constant within the OUA campus.