My first encounter with wine, in fact, took place when I was just a child, thanks to my father Nino, a chef and sommelier who often took me with him to his restaurant.
As a wine enthusiast, he was one of the first in the Catania area to organize wine-tasting courses, and I, quite curious, listened and watched all those people who, with fascinated eyes, dipped their noses into the glasses and drew out fascinating aromas. Tasting that scented liquid, they spoke of faraway places, of hills and mountains, of men and women who cultivated vineyards in the most beautiful places in the world. 
Although I was still too young to taste and fully understand everything I smelled during the lessons, I was so enchanted that I began to think that when I grew up I would like to work with wine. 
Years later, my path in the world of wine took shape at the Scuola Enologica di San Michele all’Adige and then at the Faculty of Viticulture and Oenology in Milan.
Just like that, that child who wanted to make his own wine, began to create his future step by step.
After graduation came the first work experiences, which gradually brought me back to where I started: my beloved Sicily, Etna and the desire to produce quality wine from my vineyards.
An oenologist always knows when to start the harvest. So, in 2016, together with my wife Rita, we knew the time had come to found Famiglia Statella, our winery. First came the vineyard in contrada Pettinociarelle, in Castiglione di Sicilia, to which, over time, we added the other vineyards from which we now produce our four wines.
I remember that during the sommelier lessons I attended as a child, we would travel far through the wineglass, but the tasters never spoke of the beauty of the place where we lived. In the 1980s, there was no wine that described our Etna.
It was exactly from that period of my life that the rather ambitious dream, or desire, that still guides me today was born: to make my own wine from Etna and to make it so good and authentic that it can be among the best in the world. As children, we have the ability to dream without limits and without fear, and even though I now have my feet planted firmly in the earth, I do not lose that drive and audacity that lead me to seek the perfect balance between quality, handcrafting and terroir in my wines.