Born in the village of Vietri sul Mare on the Amalfi coast of Southern Italy, Antonio's passion for the mysteries of mushroom and truffle hunting began back in Italy at an early age.

Antonio started his varied career as a journalist, working as a correspondent for a number of newspapers in Turin. Later he moved to Germany, where he worked as a wine merchant. In 1975 he moved to London and while learning English, became an independent wine merchant of Italian wines. His hobby of studying and collecting wild mushrooms continued to flourish as he found wild mushrooms growing in the English countryside close to London, almost completely undiscovered.

In 1981, Sir Terence Conran invited Antonio to become the Managing Director of the Neal Street Restaurant, which he now owns. In 1983 he made his first television appearance reporting on Mediterranean health food on BBC2. Five years later Antonio started regular appearances on the Food and Drink Programme, covering food from not just Italy, but also Spain, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

In 1991, Antonio and his wife Priscilla opened Carluccio's, a shop specialising in Italian food and fungi. This venture fulfilled Antonio's ambition to bring the best Italian ingredients and the true taste of Italy to Britain. In November 1999, Antonio opened the first Carluccio's Caffé, combining a caffé with an authentic Italian food shop and deli, on Marketplace in London, W1. There are now twenty-eight branches of Carluccio's Caffè.

Antonio appeared in his own BBC2 series in September 1996: a six-part gastronomic tour around the regions of Northern Italy. The series was hugely successful and was accompanied by the book, Italian Feast. The series Southern Italian Feast soon followed.

In September 1999, Antonio was awarded the Commendatore OMRI by the Ambassador of Italy. The equivalent of a British knighthood, the decoration recognises Antonio's knowledge, enthusiasm and lifetime services to the Italian food industry through his consistent promotion and support of genuine, regional Italian food and wine. Antonio acknowledges there will always be more to learn about the food he is passionate about. Above all he believes it is important to remain loyal to the ingredients and cooking traditions of his country.


Website
Carluccios.com

Books
GREAT OFFERS ON ANTONIO'S BOOKS

Italian Feast, BBC Books, 1996
Southern Italian Feast: More Than 100 Recipes Inspired by the Flavour of Southern Italy, BBC Books, 1998
An Invitation to Italian Cooking, Headline, 2002
The Complete Mushroom Book: The Quiet Hunt, Quadrille Publishing, 2003
Passion for Pasta, BBC Books, 2003
Antonio Carluccio's Italia, Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 2005