by Stephanie Marks Martell

La Fornarina is an unassuming restaurant nestled in Stonecrest Village shopping center where Italian street chef Santi Arria is working magic with flour. Arria, owner of the La Fornarina restaurant in Messina, Italy, since 1986, is pursuing the American dream at the La Fornarina in Tega Cay, which opened in the spring.

La Fornarina translates loosely to little bakeress. The thought that the restaurant takes its name from the painting of his lover by the Italian master Raphael is romantic, but untrue. The name comes from Arria's mother, who as a girl worked on a dough making machine called La Fornarina. Arria's parents ran a restaurant in Italy since the 1950s, so although Arria's English is coming along, he grew up bilingual. "I speak flour," he says. Fluently.

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Source: http://www.heraldonline.com