My “professional” story dates back to 1977, at the age of 4 years, when my parents Sergio and Ilva, together with a group of friends, decided to open in Udine a cultural circle for natural nourishment and macrobiotics, named “Il Risveglio”. The first site of the circle was exclusively oriented to selling retail organic food, and I still remember my little hands sneaking into large jute sacks, full of cereals and pulses, and letting them give off an intense flavor and an unforgettable scent.

In that store I used to feel like a princess in her own reign. I could touch, smell, let my imagination run free and make up new games…

1980 : the turning point. Il Risveglio moves to its well-known site of via Aquileia and next to the shop one of the first vegetarian and macrobiotic restaurants in Italy sees the light. Thus the business grows bigger and the circles starts organizing conferences, seminars, yoga trainings, naturalistic excursions and the first cooking courses, also backed by foreign cooks, like the Vietnamese Albert Nguyen and the Brasilian Monica Lacombe Camargo; among the Italian cooks: Edi Michelato, Ferro Ledvinka, Carlo Guglielmo and later Roberto Marocchesi. A movement revolving around a new concept of nourishment is making its first steps in Italy; nourishment is intended as a daily practice oriented to a healthier lifestyle, which is in tune with the laws of nature.

Amidst this ferment of ideas and people my growth continued, absorbing their energies, thoughts and emotions.

Between the 80s and 90s some “alternative” philosophies make their appearance on the cultural territory of Friuli and start rooting. Some new businesses are established: the Forno Arcano, producing organic bread, the Bioteca, the biodynamic cooperative Aurora, the yoga centre Antares – nowadays called Sonam, the eco-biological Cebi, the craftsman’s laboratory Biolab, producing vegetal proteins. The founders of these new companies belong to our circle of partners and collaborators.

Il Risveglio has always represented the idea of a big mother, wherefrom people and ideas could find nourishment and support. In my personal case this nourishment, for the last ten years, has turned into the management of the shop and the opportunity to travel and explore new ideas, both domestically and internationally, which were connected to health discipline movements. Later on I grew further making my first steps into different educational and professional roads, that improved my professional knowledge and allowed me to work as a teacher of natural cooking. My food education originates from macrobiotics, to which the study of nutritional sciences and of the traditional Mediterranean cuisine are integrated.