The history of the Italian pizza chef in Russia

Many people like him, from all corners of the world, are now in trouble because of the war, in Kyiv as well as in Moscow

Francesco Carrubba
ILLUMINATION

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Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Since Putin’s Russia started the war in Ukraine, stories have emerged of many people from all corners of the world who now find themselves in trouble in one of the two countries involved. Among them, there is also the Italian pizza chef Elio Cappiello, as reported by the Italian press agency Agi.

Born in Avellino, he left Turin and arrived in Moscow penniless, today he has four pizzerias and 80 employees, even if the international sanctions inflicted on the Kremlin after the attack and the stop on exports oblige him to cook without olive oil or mozzarella, opting for local raw materials, such as the Russian ‘tomaten’ on pizza instead of the classic Italian tomato.

Despite the difficulties of the moment, the 60-year-old has no intention of returning to Italy: he lives with his Russian wife and children in Ufa, in the Republic of Bashkiria.

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