FILIPPO RICCI

Hello, I’m Filippo Ricci, Director and Master Pizza Chef of  Pizzeria Italia and Im.pà.sto in the U.K.

I’m an Italian guy who comes from a lovely town called Giulianova, located in front of the Adriatic Coast in the Abruzzo region.

I started my studies as a Pizzaiolo in the first months of 2015, coached by the Master Pizza Chef  Valerio Valle.

My first course was focused on ‘Classic Pizza’, subsequently obtaining the Pizzaiolo diploma at a professional Italian school.

I then attended a personalised course on ‘Pizza in Pala’ and on the ‘Vegan Pizza’, with the Pizza Chef  Vincent Di Marcello.

At the end of 2015, I moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in England, where I started my first cookery experience,
at an Italian restaurant called ‘Little Italy’ inside the Grainger Market in the heart of the city.

The Pizzaiolo journey began with the purchase of the pizza shop ‘Pizzeria Italia’ in Newcastle in 2017.

In 2018 I perfected my method thanks to an experience with my teacher Valerio Valle,
the occasion on which the first ‘Pizza Gourmet Testing Event’ was celebrated at Pizzeria Italia in Newcastle.

In 2019, I attended a tailored course again with Valerio Valle, focusing the studies on ‘indirect dough’ and on ‘high hydration’,
applied both to the ‘Pizza in Pala’, and to the ‘Pizza al Padellino’ and to the ‘Pizza in Teglia’.

At the end of 2019, I participated as a finalist in the UK National Pizza Championship within the Italian Awards at Manchester.

Thanks to my sacrifices and my commitment I proudly joined the Italian Professional Pizza Makers Team,
founded by master Valerio Valle, collaborating with some of the Award-Winning Pizza Chefs such as:
Luca Valle, Luca Sposetti, Vincenzo Marcozzi, Vincent di Marcello and of course Valerio Valle.

In 2019, in Italy, we put together a charity evening focused on Pizza with the association #pizzaperunsorriso.

In 2020 I founded the first Pizza School in the North-East, offering specialised professional courses for pizza makers.

During 2020, the project rapidly developed a network of contacts which has resulted in us proudly importing equipment.

This has led us to open 2021 our own showroom in Cramlington, where we can showcase Italian brands products from
David Forni, Moretti Forni, EffeUno, Esmach, IP Bake, Gi.Metal, Molino Dallagiovanna, Mecnosud, Frantoio Montecchia and Podere Francesco, also in collaboration with Italica UK in Newcastle and New Concept Beyond Catering in Glasgow.

In 2022, a new project called Im.pà.sto was born with the main objective of incorporating my Showroom, Academy and Lab, leading me to develop the main project called PIZZA SOLUTIONS to the objective is to offer consulting all round on the Pizza world.

All these experiences have given me the opportunity to stay updated,
continuously testing with new products, trying different methods and always developing innovative ideas
to make a nice and tasty Pizza, healthy and easy digestible, looking for an evolution in the tradition of Italian Pizza.

EVOLVING TRADITION