I’ll start from long time ago, my really first experience in a kitchen has been at a young age, my dad is a chef and he runs his own restaurant since I was a kid, that’s why at 6 years old I found my self busy pealing potatoes. It’s simply the creative way my daddy used to punish me when I was naughty, likely I’ve always been a really “lively dude” and so I spent a lot of time in the kitchen together with him. At the age of 14 I was already able to prepare a good variety of dishes.

I worked in my family’s restaurant in Genova till the age of 22 when, at the end of University I decided to get some more chef experience in London where I worked in a great restaurant as Pasta Chef. Back in Italy after 6 months in the City, I moved to Sanremo and I start to work as Chef in a very busy restaurant in the center of the town. At this point arrived the offer I was waiting for, my uncle asked me to join his business, I wanted to get out of the kitchen and I started as agent in his company. It’s during my four years as yacht agent that I came across this industry, I quickly fall in love with it. At the end of 2016 I decided to take my chance and jump on board, the yachties life-style was really attractive and my chef soul, after a long rest, was knocking at the back of my head. I didn’t have to wait long time to find my first job on board a 60 meter private yacht called Capella C. The old lady represented the turning point of my career, thanks to Capella C I travelled around Europe and spent one summer in the Baltic Sea.

At the end of 2018 I felt ready to get on a charter boat, I moved on a Sunreef 68ft for the Caribbean season, I also attend the Antigua boat show for the first time and partecipated to the chef competition, after a few charters in the Caribbean water and a few more the following Med season in Croatia and Montenegro my time, on the cubic power Cat, was up. I didn’t have to wait long before landing my next gig, taking on with a new challenge, the sailing side of the industry. Before Covid became what we all know, I was sailing in the south of the Caribbean sea on S/Y Valquest, a gracious 42 meters sloop, to later on spending two months in Antigua, partying every day with my crew before crossing the Atlantic for the first time in style! Arrived back in La Ciotat the 17th of March 2020 the situation was chaotic, I wasn’t aware of anything, but I did find out the hard way. I left Valquest the day after we arrived, quickly made it home in Genova to spend the lock down with my parents. That summer, after Covid took away my beloved sailing boat, it somehow gave me back something with the opportunity of working on S/Y Elena of London, a stunning Schooner 44 meter based in Sanremo. Funny enough the Chef had been tested positive to Covid and he couldn’t be on board for the first charter of the season, it was around mid June. Captain Steve and Bosun Bas offered me the position as relief Chef which I took with great enthusiasm.

That charter on Elena was pretty much all the on board action for the summer 2020, the next “on board gig” arrived with the following Caribbean season, back to motor yacht, this time a San Lorenzo 27 meters called Stae. To be honest with you the boat wasn’t beautiful at all, small galley, tiny cabin, no crew mess, quite demanding owner family, you might think and so what was good about it?! Well just the most important part of the boat, the crew was flipping awesome! On board Stae I met Capt Raimond and Josie, which became two of the most important people of my career and very close friend off the boat, together with them we nailed three seasons between Stae and Sidarta. A mention is due also to Lola, our second stew on both the boats. To finish the story about the San Lorenzo, as very often happens in the yachting industry, the boat was sold at the end of the Caribbean season, we spent two months in Bahia Mar Marina in Ft Laudardale before seal the deal, as last man standing on board I literally gave the boat key to our broker Alex on the 30th April 2021 at 3pm, at 5pm the same day I was on board M/Y Kisses to do a 4 days trip to New York.

Back from NY on the 7th of May I signed the biggest contract of my career with M/Y Impromptu. I must admit, when it comes of business, the States has a lot to offer. I remember 2021 as the year I worked the hardest, after signing with Impromptu I flew back home, I was supposed to spend a month and join the boat in Palma after the crossing, unfortunatly after only two weeks Capt Pieter rang me with the unexpected news, he fired the relief chef and I had to pack my bags and go back to US to do the crossing myself. Once we arrived to Palma the schedule was very tight, quick stop to Malta to sort out some papers, that was my first time ever in La Valletta where I spent exactly 4 hours, two of them at the supermarket trying to buy enough provisions to make it to Naples where the Boss was waiting for us, on the dock, I mean he was literally next to the van of the provisioner, the following day to spend two weeks on board with us. What a stretch that was! But again the crew was great and we did two wonderful seasons, the amount of tips we put together in just 5 charters was almost ridiculous. Before you start I want you to know that I was averaging infinite hours of work per month, being solo chef on a Charter yacht with 12 guests and 9 crew to feed is not an easy task! Once again the industry showed me how cruel it can be, while I was enjoyed my holidays back in Europe, the 15th April 2022 I received one of those phone call that turn the future plans upside down, Capt Pieter fired me due to a crew reshuffle, Impromptu was no longer my trusted floating cash machine. It was a cold shower, I’m not going to bother you with how sad made feel. Although the yachting industry can be as cruel as resourceful, I’ve been jobless for about 24 minutes. As soon as I hang the phone with Capt Pieter, I called Capt Raimond who was quite happy of having me on M/Y SeaWolf -after a good trim to my salary-, I have to say when it comes of negotiations and stretching rules Rai is a real Master (Unlimited).

Summer 2022 I’ve been working again with Rai and Josie, Lola was on board for the first season on SeaWolf. We cruised the Med from Cannes to Zakynthos, spending a good part of our time in the South of Italy, which I fairly enjoyed. The owner that winter decided to change the name to the original one, going back to Sidarta, together with the name also a big part of the crew changed for the Med season 2023, we get along very well and we manage to finish the busiest summer ever, counting 18 weeks of guests on board. This time we cruised through the Corinth canal and arrived in Turkey where we spent a few weeks. On our way back to SoF we stopped in Rome, and later on in Rapallo and it was at this time that I received the offer for the very much dreamed rotational job on M/Y Addiction, at the time being I’m typing this article from my port forward cabin in Antigua.

How it started

How it’s going