Felice Santodonato

I have been working in the restaurant/hospitality industry for over 20 years, gaining experience in Italy and abroad in hotels, restaurants of various levels, and in the banquet and catering world. I have teaching experience, where I acquired much of my communication skills, in addition to attending communication training sessions. I still conduct courses in Italian cuisine, modern cuisine, and new technologies applied to gastronomy. Together with the Marco Polo Study Abroad in NY, we have ongoing collaborations with several U.S. colleges, from SUNY Schenectady County Community College in NY to Atlantic Cape Community College in Atlantic City. Regarding diplomatic relations, I have various projects in collaboration with the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Italy, the Hungarian Embassy in Italy, as well as the Italian Embassy in Armenia, the Italian Embassy in Hungary, and the Italian Consulate in Miami, as well as the Chinese CCPS in Beijing. Currently, my professional interests are focused on China, following the opening of an Italian restaurant in January 2020 as a culinary consultant in the city of Rizhao, along with an import/export project we are working on, based in Puglia with Asian hubs in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Nationally, I have several collaborations with AQ International, Slow Food, Ristoworld Italy, Agrocamera, and Assoittica Italia. I currently work at IPSEOA Tor Carbone in Rome as a teacher of culinary arts in the kitchen sector. At this same institute, I have had assignments for about five years as the head of events and international projects, participating in several editions of the Italian Cuisine Week in the World, sponsored by MIUR, MAECI, and MITBAC. Among our most important international exchange projects are collaborations with the Gulielme Tirel Hotel School in Paris, France, the Azores Hotel School, the Technological University of Cancun in Mexico, the Italian Consulate in Montreal, the Ministry of Education in Kazakhstan, the Culinary College of Dongguan in China, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, the Culinary College of Tokyo, Stratford University in Washington, and Miami Dade College.