Giovanni Apicella was born in the town of Polvica, in the hills of Tramonti, Italy on July 24, 1945 His mother Clorinda was a baker and his father Salvatore oversaw allocation of where crops were distributed. Giovanni always said that his sister, Rosaria was his conscience and always tried to lead him on the right path. He helped his Uncle at his bakery until the age of 14 when he ran away from home to venture to the North of Italy to become a pizza maker. It was there that he found his love for cooking and decided to enter Viareggio Culinary Institute in Tuscany where he studied for 2 years. He continued his journey moving to the French Riviera where he mastered his pizza making skills surrounded by the beauty of the land. He later returned to Italy where he met Dora Lena. They quickly married and had Clorinda and Salvatore in Modena. They started a restaurant empire together, beginning with Il Sombrero and continuing on with many more. When Salvatore was 2 and Linda 4 they moved to a castle. After much success in the restaurants Giovanni opened night clubs. Life lead him to leave Italy, by himself, and move to the United States. He wound up in New York City where he had to rebuild his life from the ground up. He became a chef at a small Italian eatery where he met Libby Corydon. They soon married and had William. They moved to Roosevelt Island while Giovanni continued working in NYC. Giovanni bought his first restaurant Piccolo Pomodoro and moved the family to New Jersey. He continued to build a restaurant empire in NYC and Miami where he proudly boasted that he owned and operated a total 35 restaurants in his life. His most recent being Amarone, Tramonti and Azalea. He developed real estate in Romania where he owned a horse farm, among other things. He was a proud grandfather to Nico and Leo.
