For more than ten years, he was the owner of l'Osteria, a pizza restaurant located in Fitzroy North on Nicholson Street, only a few metres from Il Globo’s former headquarters.

Today, Santino is the owner of Gemma Simply Italian on Elgin Street in Carlton.

An Indian from New Delhi, Santino, as you might guess from his acquired name, is an honorary Italian, having moved to Italy when he was eighteen after being awarded a foreign scholarship to study Italian at the University of Perugia.

“I then did a postgraduate course at the Milan Polytechnic, but since I’ve always liked cooking, after university I enrolled at the hotel-management school in Senigallia, in the Marche region,” Santino told Sapori, the program broadcast every Tuesday on Rete Italia.

After finishing his studies, thanks to the interest of the headmaster of the hotel-management school Alfonso Benvenuto, Santino started doing the summer seasons in the big Adriatic seaside resorts, working in hotels and restaurants in Rimini, Riccione and Cattolica.

“Those were the years of the tourism boom, with 500-600 thousand visitors a year; it was a particularly good time in my life, because you worked a lot for four or five months, but the money would last you the whole year,” he recalled.

In 1989 Santino got married, and the following year his eldest daughter Giada - now a surgeon in Melbourne - was born.

A short time later, the family grew, with the arrival of their son Keri, a civil engineer who helps out mum and dad in the restaurant.

Arriving in 2004, following Giada who wanted to study in an English-speaking country, Santino took over l’Osteria after three years in Australia.

“We did very well until 2018; then in 2019 Covid arrived, which brought us to our knees.”

In 2021, it was Santino's son who insisted they take over the pizzeria, gnoccheria and pasta bar, Gemma Simply Italian.

“We opened in 2021 and faced a long lockdown, but thanks to government aid we managed to survive and are now back on our feet. We work hard and well - not only with pizza, which attracts many patrons to Carlton, but cooking 50 kg of gnocchi a week.”

With a family like his, Indian, transplanted to Italy and then Australia, one wonders what kind of cuisine the Kapoors eat when they close the restaurant and dine at home.

“My wife and son cook Indian food, and my daughter prefers continental, so we do both,” Santino replied.

He owes a lot to the Bel Paese, and now, after so many years spent behind the stove, the new grandfather is thinking of buying a house in the hills of the Marche region.

“It's almost time to retire, and since Italy is the best country in the world and Italians are better at everything, from footwear and clothing, to cooking and cars, I'm thinking of buying a house in an area between Senigallia, Monte Marciano and Ancona, to spend at least six months a year in.”