There's a corner of Sardinia that pulses in the heart of Australia's Sunshine Coast, fragrant with contemporary Neapolitan pizza. This is the story of Maiori, born from the entrepreneurial courage of Antonio and Sarah Masella, husband and wife, both Sardinian, who transformed homesickness into a successful project. Two pizzerias in less than three years, a precise gastronomic identity, and the technological choice to rely on Neapolis by Moretti Forni, the electric oven that reaches the perfect 510°F for this style of pizza, ensuring even after hours of use that consistency of cooking fundamental for managing the intense pace of service in a successful establishment.
«It's like having an extra person: I work alone, but it's as if there were two of us managing the oven», says Antonio Masella, who has made Moretti Forni's perfect cooking the pillar of his offering. A choice matured after years of experience with different cooking systems: «I've worked with many different ovens, but the performance and continuity that Neapolis gives me, no other oven among those I've tried in ten years has given me».
Antonio's story is one of an unexpected professional conversion: a former professional Latin American dance performer for twenty-five years, he approached the world of pizza out of visa necessity. «In Australia it's a sought-after and well-paid job, it was an easier path to permanent residence», but this profession transformed into authentic passion. Self-taught with a formidable visual memory («I watch, observe once and can do it, often even better»), he built his training through direct experience and observation, refining over the years a personal style that he now defines as contemporary Neapolitan.
The journey that brought the Masellas from Europe to Australia passes through Germany, where Sarah's family ran a restaurant in Munich. «My parents have always only had restaurants, their whole life, from America to Germany to Australia», explains Sarah, tracing a genealogy of hospitality that crosses continents. The meeting between the two occurred in Sardinia - he on vacation from Australia where he already lived, she engaged in seasonal work while still residing in Germany - and from there began the common adventure that brought them first to Sydney, then to the Sunshine Coast.
The first approach with
Moretti Forni dates back to their previous restaurant in Sunshine Beach, where they used an
iDeck model. But it was with the opening of
Maiori in 2023 that the partnership was consolidated: first with a
Neapolis 6, then with the transition to the model 9 for the second pizzeria. «The continuity is really high», emphasizes
Antonio. «It maintains the same product level even when baking two hundred pizzas. With a wood-fired oven, if you're not an expert baker who's always there adding wood and checking, you can't achieve the same type of product or the same temperature between ceiling and deck».
Maiori's dough follows a rigorous protocol: no pre-ferment, direct fermentation, double leavening with a minimum forty-eight hours of rest between refrigerator and room temperature. «Forty-eight hours is an insurmountable limit for me», specifies Antonio, who works with a flour mix to achieve structure and flavor: a tipo 00, a tipo 1, and a multigrain. The result is a well-developed cornicione, crispy outside and aerated inside, that responds to Australian taste for decisive textures, but maintains the melt-in-your-mouth quality typical of Neapolitan tradition.
«In this area we're among the first to propose this style», says
Antonio speaking of the challenge of introducing contemporary Neapolitan pizza to a market accustomed to something completely different. «Especially those who travel appreciate it enormously. Many children of Italians who have been to Italy tell me it's hard to find pizza like this even there». The signature pizza of this philosophy is the
Maiori: twenty-four-month aged prosciutto crudo, burrata imported directly from Puglia, Parmigiano Reggiano, arugula and truffle oil on a
Margherita base. A balance between classicism and creativity that has quickly conquered the local public.
The technological dimension is also crucial in staff management. Having two pizzerias, Antonio can't be everywhere: «With a wood-fired oven you can't work alone, you must have a dedicated baker to take care of the oven. Economically it's a great saving: Neapolis might cost something more initially, but in the long term the economic return is evident». The oven's ease of use allows for rapid staff training, ensuring homogeneous results even when Antonio is not present.
A factor that perhaps we in Italy don't imagine are the Australian hours, radically different from Italian ones: «In the evening pizza is eaten from 4:30 PM and we close at 8:30 PM: when they open in Italy, we close», explains
Antonio. A concentrated rhythm that requires maximum efficiency: «Evenings here are short, but intense. You work from six to eight and all pizzas must be baked in that time frame». This is where the power and reliability of
Neapolis make the difference: «I can work peacefully alone and make even 150-200 pizzas in one evening».
The sourcing of raw materials reflects this double soul, local and Italian: if 70/80% of products are imported - from Puglian burrata to Parma ham - for fresher products the Masellas rely on local realities like Salumi Australia, founded by another Sardinian. «Eating his Sardinian sausage is like eating it at home, they are truly identical products», assures Antonio.
The advanced technology of
Neapolis proves decisive even for the specific characteristics of
Antonio's dough: «It's so technologically advanced that sometimes you don't even need to turn the pizza. For me, pizza, when you eat it, must melt in your mouth, but I try to maintain a fairly crispy cornicione. The
Moretti oven helps me enormously in this». The precision in temperature control, both of the deck and the dome, allows achieving that particular texture that distinguishes
Maiori's pizzas: crispy base, soft center, aerated cornicione but with a thin and crispy crust.
The menu has evolved to include focaccias - made with the same dough as the pizza to maintain that consistency that the Australian public likes - and other offerings that meet local tastes, especially for lunch service where «Australians generally don't eat much pizza», as Antonio notes. But it's in the evening that Maiori expresses its best, with service that must be quick and efficient to satisfy clientele who dine early and within contained timeframes.
Looking to the future, the
Masellas have clear ideas: «The objective is to complete the triangle on the Sunshine Coast, covering all areas», explains
Antonio. «Then in two-three years we'd like to open in Brisbane, which is one of the fastest-growing cities in Australia. In a few years there will also be the Olympics». An expansion that will continue to rely on
Moretti Forni technology: «It's an oven that surprised us with its ease of use, truly intuitive», confirms
Antonio, who in the second location chose
Neapolis again, this time the model 9.
The
Masellas' trajectory - from Sardinia to Germany, from Australia to entrepreneurial success - demonstrates how contemporary Neapolitan pizza can become a universal language when supported by the right technology. «I wouldn't change it for any reason», concludes
Antonio speaking of his
Neapolis.
A technical certainty that allows focusing on the essential: bringing an authentic piece of Italy to the antipodes of the world, one pizza at a time, with that consistency and quality that only perfect cooking can guarantee. And while the sun sets early on the Sunshine Coast, in Maiori's open kitchens the Neapolis oven continues to bake pizzas that smell like home, even ten thousand kilometers from Sardinia.
