Gino Sorbillo runs the family's Antica Pizzeria at number 32 Via dei Tribunali—founded by his grandfather Luigi in 1935—and a galaxy of restaurants in Italy and abroad. Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI) in 2020, he is one of the most media-savvy faces of the art of Neapolitan pizza making.
Born in Naples in 1974, the thirteenth of twenty-one cousins who were pizza makers, Gino was already mixing flour as a child alongside his aunt Esterina Sorbillo, the “queen” of fried pizza: at the age of nine, he served his first Margherita. After graduating in accounting, he chose the counter: in the 1990s, he and his brother Toto took over the Antica Pizzeria Sorbillo in Via dei Tribunali, founded in 1935 by their grandparents Luigi Sorbillo and Carolina Esposito.
The model—high-hydration dough, PDO ingredients, and artisanal production—became a format: Lievito Madre al Mare on the Neapolitan seafront (2012), Gino Sorbillo in Milan (2017), then corners in Rome, Turin, New York, and Miami. However, the historic location remains the “cathedral” of identity: the only pizzeria at number 32 Via Tribunali.
Awards and recognitions punctuate his career: in 2015, he was a guest judge on MasterChef Italia during a challenge in Naples; in 2016, his pizzeria entered the Top 10 of 50 Top Pizza; on June 2, 2020, he received the honor of Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Knight of Merit of the Italian Republic) for promoting Neapolitan pizza around the world.
An ambassador for the art of pizzaiuoli recognized by UNESCO (2017), Sorbillo participates in TV programs and social media campaigns for the protection of Made in Italy; with the format “Zia Esterina,” he relaunches the ancient fried pizza. His mantra: “quantity must never sacrifice quality.”
