In 1997, Nicolini opened his first restaurant, Pizza Espresso, in Templestowe; just two years later, The Age Epicure crowned him the “King of Pizza”.

Nicolini then went on to conquer Melbourne’s Little Italy, first with Carlton Espresso, in 2004 (which was rebaptised DOC Espresso in 2007), followed by DOC Pizza, DOC Delicatessen, DOC Mornington and DOC Albert Park.

All of the restaurants reflected the Italian traditions inherited from Nicolini’s father, Vitaliano, who migrated to Australia from Abruzzo with his brother, Eugenio, in 1956.

Having worked in the most renowned Italian restaurants in Melbourne, including Café Florentino, Society and Pellegrini’s, Vitaliano moved to Queensland.

In 1969, the year Nicolini was born, Vitaliano risked it all to open the first Italian pizzeria on the Gold Coast.

In 2017, Nicolini sold all his shares in the DOC group, and after a couple of years of reflection, he took over DOC Albert Park and established Italian Artisans.

The restaurant is the fusion of all of his professional endeavours and a celebration of artisanal work.

“We use alternative, ancient and organic grains, respecting the fermentation of the dough, which lasts 72 hours to enhance the flavours and to make our pizzas and our focaccia more digestible, nutritious and tasty,” Nicolini explained in an interview with Rete Italia.

The ingredients used by Italian Artisans are obviously all artisanal and many of them are also organic, from peeled tomatoes produced by the Fragassi and Ursini families in Abruzzo to Apulian olive oil supplied by the Alvise family and mozzarella produced by the Bamonte family in NSW.

“The ingredients utilised reflect how I like to live — organic where possible, always seasonal and of the highest quality,” Nicolini said.

The menu of Italian Artisans is simple, but pays great attention to detail.

A typical entrée features ham cured for 24 months, homemade pickled vegetables and fresh cheeses.

Diners will also feast on bold yet sensational gastronomic pairings, such as burrata and bottarga, mortadella and stracciatella, and caponata with Salina capers.

The wine list is also mainly organic, with excellent drops from Puglia, Tuscany, Piedmont and Veneto, and an exquisite Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna.

The beers are Italian, including those handcrafted by Baladin Pop, in Piedmont.

Italian Artisans now has a sister establishment on the same street, Espresso Albert Park, serving excellent coffee and biscuits prepared by Nicolini’s father-in-law, Giuseppe Cavallaro, who opened the famed Footscray pasticceria, T Cavallaro and Sons, with his brothers.

In the 1980s, Espresso Albert Park was Vic Ave Cafe, one of the restaurants of the late Donlevy Fitzpatrick, a legendary character in the history of Melbourne’s food scene (he was the owner of Dog’s Bar and The George Hotel in St Kilda, where a young Nicolini worked as a waiter).

The history of Italian Artisans concerns another man who made a name for himself in Melbourne: architect and designer Piero Gesualdi, who helped Nicolini with the renovations of the restaurant’s interior.

Renowned for decades as a true trail-blazer in Australia’s fashion and design scene, Gesualdi founded the iconic Masons stores in Melbourne and Sydney in the mid-1970s. 

He also opened the legendary Rosati in Flinders Lane with Rinaldo Di Stasio.

At Italian Artisans, Nicolini continues his mission, which began with Pizza Espresso and continued with the DOC group, not to reinvent the pizza wheel, but to make it better with every slice.

One could expect nothing less from the “King of Pizza”.