Those who
produce sweets give
culture,
memory,
beauty
and happiness.
This is why it is a profession that must be taken seriously, with responsibility, starting from the bond with nature that calls us to respect its perfection and that does not need our manipulation.
It is because of this nuance that I love my craftsmanship.
Just as a farmer is intimately nourished by the vibrant, daily relationship with his piece of land, I grow up discovering the myriad of possibilities that even a single raw material can reveal every day to those who know how to look closely: cocoa, above all, with its multiple identities.
My history
I learned the secrets of the job at the side of great simple and wise women, who taught me the art of slowness and patience, who showed me – against all the anxiety of doing too much too soon – that even the simplest of cookies requires a dedication that goes down to the most basic of the ingredients, to the most basic step, and that many things require time and rest, along with hands, eyes and especially the heart.
From their large pantry, they left me the most precious piece: the manuscript recipes of the ancient Sicilian convent pastry, the most extensive and exact information we know about this work. From each page, I have captured an unsuspected ingredient, from all of them I have retained that unrepeatable claim to perfection, the tension to preserve the originality of a great tradition and at the same time the instinct of wanting to write a new story through the unique specificity of each of their sweets.
My Town
The long years of my very personal research have allowed me to finally land on my original, essential vocation:the chocolate, its magic.
Whoever is born in Modica, with the pastry chef job inside his blood, cannot escape the epic of cocoa and its fascinating adventures around the world, which through the centuries have laid it – literally, laid it – right here, at our feet, so that we could take it in our hands and train ourselves to take care of it. This gift, this task, is now my everyday thought, the centre of gravity of all my work.
I welcome you to my workshop, my little “opificio” of handmade chocolate.
Cioccolato bean to bar
Nel mio Cioccolato cerco sempre di rispettarne la personalità, sperimentando accostamenti inediti per valorizzarne al massimo la naturale intensità.
Confectionery
Cocoa is the centre of our work, but the history we have behind us – and which inherits the precious heritage of Sicilian confectionery tradition – does not allow us to be neglected.
For this reason, we are constantly renewing some of the inevitable rituals of this tradition, dedicating ourselves, for example, to the production of nougats, cobaita, aranciata, jams and, when autumn arrives, martorana fruit.