There are few restaurants that do hundreds of covers in Italy, a country where the dining industry has always been undersized. Everything is different across the ocean, where one may find it possible to lead the orchestra for an audience both large and generous, lured by the charm of Italian cuisine. 

It happened to Alessandro Pendinelli, who, prior to his apprenticeship and throwing his heart over the hurdle, was a son of art. His mother and father ran a traditional cuisine restaurant in Molfetta, so he took his first steps in the kitchen when he was a child.