Flavour of Italy wins
Emerging Ethnic Entrepreneur of the Year

Flavour of Italy which runs the successful School of Italian Cooking and the high-end catering company, CaterItaly in Dublin 6 has won the Permanent TSB Emerging Ethnic Entrepreneur of the Year run in conjunction with Metro Eireann.

Marco Giannantonio and Maurizio Mastrangelo set up the business to bring authentic Italian cuisine and knowledge to Ireland. In a short three years, these two entrepreneurs have helped to transform the face of Italian food here and their School of Cooking is renowned for being a valuable source of education and great fun. Each Wednesday evening guests arrive to see head chef Marco Roccasalvo who runs the award-winning Bray restaurant Campo de Fiori give lessons in Italian cooking.

'We can't believe the generosity of Permanent TSB, the judges and Metro Eireann in giving us this award', said Marco Giannantonio. 'We have achieved so much in such a short time. Soon we will celebrate the opening of our Ranelagh Italian cafe and wine bar "Pinocchio" where people can taste the finest foods from Flavour of Italy and learn more about our wonderful country.'

Flavour of Italy has a sister company which runs travel trips to Italy related to artisan food and wine.

Fellow award winners include Lord Diljit Rana, MBE and Asheesh Dewan of the Jaipur chain of restaurants.