Vincenzo DililloCommunity profile

Vincenzo Di Lillo was born in Ravenna, Italy, into a family of cooks. When Vincenzo was 9 years old, his parents opened their own business, a small pizzeria, which was the first of its kind in the city, and also offered delivery, a novelty at the time. From a young age, he helped his parents in the kitchen at home every day, and after school, he worked at the pizzeria, preparing ingredients and kneading dough. Three years later, the family opened a second location. A few years later, his parents decided to move to Bologna, leaving their business in Ravenna in the care of relatives. There, they opened a chain of pizzerias called Pizza & Pizza, with 14 locations. When Vincenzo was 17, his father sent him on a summer internship to his friend, Michele Accetta, one of the most renowned pizza chefs in Italy, a winner of various international pizza-making competitions. The cafe was so popular that they prepared around 500 pizzas daily, and in three months, Vincenzo became a true professional. "I dreamed of pizza," Vincenzo recalls. In September, the family opened another location in Bologna, and his father put Vincenzo in charge of making the pizzas. Later, more cafes and bars were opened, offering not only pizza but also various dishes of traditional Italian cuisine, where Vincenzo prepared dishes based on his mother's and grandmother's recipes, and also learned the art of bartending.

Vincenzo repeatedly participated in the International Pizza Championship in Salsomaggiore Terme, where he first surpassed his mentor, Michele, and took first place, demonstrating a vertical pizza wheel with two pizzas – a feat that no pizza chef in the world had previously achieved. He participated in various exhibitions and conferences dedicated to pizza in Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, and Austria.

Vincenzo came to Moscow in June 2010 at the invitation of pizza chef Mauro Davide from the Casta Diva project, led by Andrey Dello, who was looking for a replacement.

Later, he was invited to Ginza Project, where he worked for about three years. He worked at the floating restaurant "Ponton," the cafe "Chaikovsky," and the "Olive Beach" cafe in Gorky Park. He often served as a consultant for other restaurants in the network, for example, developing pizza recipes for "Pesto Cafe." At the same time, Vincenzo began working at the culinary studio Culinaryon and conducting master classes.

In 2017, he joined the team of the Osteria della Piazza Bianca restaurant as a brand chef and later joined another project of Galina Duving on Old Arbat. Over the years, Vincenzo became increasingly recognized in the Moscow market and was invited to conduct master classes and provide consulting services in other cities of Russia (Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Tula, Ryazan). He participated in shows and culinary programs on "First Channel," "STS," "Moscow 24," "360," "Che," and other channels.

Since 2022, he has been working on the Dolse Casa project in Krasnogorsk. In 2024, at the invitation of Liana Buchkovskaya, he launched the Italian restaurant Zio Vini, named after him, where he is not only the face of the restaurant but also the head chef, responsible for the pizza and pasta menu.