With complete focus, Chef Filippo Trapella tosses freshly boiled pasta in a pan full of his homemade sauce, the rich aroma filling the air, and he completes the dish with finely grated Parmesan cheese. For Trapella, cooking is less about serving the food and more about sharing his Italian culture and letting others experience it firsthand.

As an Italian-born chef from Bologna, Trapella brings authentic Italian cuisine to the Athens community through private events, catering, cooking classes and weekly pop-up dinners. Trapella moved to the United States in 2013, settling in Ohio for three years before relocating to Athens in 2016. In Italy, he worked as a freelance architect, but after moving, he pivoted his career path to pursue his passion of cooking while still “maintaining this independence.”