A lot of chefs go to catering college because they’re fed up with academic studying; it either proves too hard, not interesting enough or simply boring for those who then go on to achieve greatness in the kitchen. Naples-born Giuseppe D’Aquino, however, came from a family of doctors, excelled at school and was on the right track to becoming an engineer. But after receiving a diploma at a technical college, he knew it wasn’t the life for him. ‘I realised it was not what I wanted to do and that I wanted to be a chef,’ he says. ‘I told my father who, like a good Neapolitan, told me I could either choose to be safe or stupid.’

Giuseppe had always loved cooking throughout his childhood. ‘As a boy, when I came back after an evening with friends I started making myself a simple sandwich or croissant,’ he explains. ‘But I started wanting more; I would cook anything and everything, from sauces to risottos. I remember my mother waking up in the morning and being distraught at all the dirty dishes and pans in the kitchen – but it was an indicator of my passion.’

When he finally decided to go against his family’s wishes to become an engineer, Giuseppe’s first few jobs were in small kitchens up and down the Amalfi coast. But it wasn’t until he moved to Paris when he was nineteen that he realised he’d done the right thing. He ended up working in the city for ten years, in restaurants such as the three-starred Senderens and as a sous chef at the Hôtel de Ville, the city’s local administration building. His time with the chefs there – whom he says were regarded in a light similar to lawyers and doctors – helped him to become the chef he’d always dreamed of being, and he began to develop his own style.

After a brief stint in Geneva and taking some time to complete some internships and cooking diplomas, Giuseppe was called back to Paris to take over from the head chef at the Hôtel de Ville. He then worked for a year in the Maldives and eventually found his way to Dubai, where he worked for three years as an executive chef for four restaurants, covering Italian, French, international and Arabian cuisine. But Giuseppe eventually found himself looking for a new challenge. ‘I came back home to see if I could stand up against other Italian chefs – it’s quite easy for someone coming from Italy to work abroad and be considered a good chef,’ he says. ‘I found a position at the Villa Mangiacane in San Casciano, and worked there for two and a half years.’ Afterwards, Giuseppe worked as a consultant for another hotel in the area, before deciding to build his own restaurant from the ground up in the hills of Lake Garda, near Verona, with the support of his family.