Determination and passion

My passion? Without any doubt I can say my greatest passion is being in close contact with the public. It all began when I was in middle school: one day my parents asked me what kind of career I wanted to choose and most of all which school I wanted to attend. A girl or a boy usually have to choose at a young and thus rather delicate age and very often later some regret the choice they made.

I, instead, was very sure and after a short, though very pondered consideration, I realised I liked foreign languages very much, and besides my greatest love had always been food. So, being also inspired by a film, I decided to enrol in Rieti’s catering school, which was considered one of the best in the country.

The first years were very important to me, I was approaching a world I considered more and more my own, increasingly fun, stimulating, mostly with practical subjects: kitchen and dining room, where I could use my strong creativity and get even closer to the restaurant sector. Later I took a road that then revealed to be extremely important for my professional career, and so in order to facilitate my contact with clients and the relationship with guests, I concentrated my studies on the reception sector only.

I graduated in 2010-2011 and immediately after that I realised that my ideas were well defined, clear: I wanted to leave, take my chances, discover what a different part of the world from Italy could give me. The destination soon appeared and the choice was very fruitful: I left my friends, home, family. It wasn’t easy, especially at first, but I decided that town could offer me a richness that was hard to ignore. Opportunities, work, a multitude of cultures and the thorough learning of the most important language in the world: that town was London.

I immediately began to work as a waitress in an English restaurant but after a few months I understood my career was to evolve in hotels. I worked for over two years for the Accor chain and while I was in Rome, having returned on holiday, and I was walking with some friends in Piazza del Popolo, I saw the Hotel de Russie in Via Del Babuino and was totally charmed by it.

Once again my tenaciousness and my determination told me that place would work for me, and I would be able to learn a lot and express in the best possible way what I had learnt. I went there the following day, with my best smile and my curriculum and after a few days they contacted me: they offered me a position in the reception of the restaurant Le Jardin de Russie adjacent to the hotel.

I still work here. Waking up every morning and doing what you are gifted for is a unique and impossible to describe feeling. This work has also enriched my cultural background immensely with a deep knowledge of the restaurant world. Collaborating with the same hospitality company also allowed me to get to know and later collaborate with "Noi di Sala" (an Association for dining room and cellar professionals).

Thanks to the latter, I had the splendid opportunity to take part in a well structured, fun and very interesting event. During Identità Milano 2015 I was able to actively participate in a small and very educational show, next to the famous and very funny Roman actor Marco Giallini, with whom we succeeded in our objective: making people understand that dining room work is difficult yet extremely important and unique in the restaurant scene.

Besides, since we always need to grow, learn, conquer new goals, I add that I recently began to attend a sommelier course with AIS, so as to have a deeper knowledge of the rich and varied world of oenology.

See also
The infinite joys of the kitchen by Sara Simionato
From Western concert flute to cakes by Paola Ziliani
A natural journey by Gaia Giordano
Working twice as hard by Sabrina Tuzi
Respect as a goal by Caterina Ceraudo
Tenacity, love and quality by Patrizia Corradetti
Liberty in the dining room by Anna Sala
Pamela’s Passion by Pamela Filomeno
Dishes to chew by Teresa Buongiorno
Love is a raw material by Alba Esteve Ruiz
The art of never giving up by Deborah Corsi
Becoming a restaurateur by Patrizia Maraviglia
In search for passion by Anneke Van Sande
Challenging oneself in Norway by Lucia Tellone
I want to make bread by Roberta Pezzella
So young for everything by Rosanna Marziale
Rigour and cheerfulness by Serenella Medone
The chef from Northern Naples by Marianna Vitale
In the team with my mother by Serena D'Alesio
Men, what a disaster by Marzia Buzzanca
A total vocation by Antonella Ricci
A full life by Maria De La Paz
Mind and heart by Marta Grassi
Effort with a smile by Nadia Moscardi
Nothing is impossible by Emanuela Tommolini
Giving value to differences by Viviana Varese
The other half of the dish by Elisa Arduini