Brother and sister's new Italian street food 'passion project' bringing an authentic taste of Tuscany to Peterborough

A brother and sister team from Tuscany have started a new business serving-up authentic Italian street food on the streets of Peterborough.

Micheal and Giada Cristiano’s ‘passion project’ – Cristiano’s Italian street food stall, at the Serpentine Green shopping centre, in Hampton – saw them both give up their jobs in pursuit of bringing a taste of their native Tuscany to the city.

Micheal, 29, left Italy to start the business two moths ago – leaving behind his job as a manager of a sales team for a successful German manufacturing company.

His sister, Giada, 30, moved to the UK when she was 18 years old to study media studies at university. She has lived in this country ever since, and now resides in Yaxley.

“When you think of Italian food you think of pizza and pasta – but we wanted to do something different,” Giada said.

"We offer an authentic taste of Italy – doing things differently to what the chains already offer and bringing something new to the area.

“We left our jobs because of our passion for this project.”

The freshly-made Italian cuisine on offer includes panzerotto – a savoury turnover resembling a calzone, originating from Puglia, which is where Micheal and Giada’s dad is from and where their nan still lives.

Also available on the menu is sgebei – strips of fried and salted dough served either plain or stuffed with cheese or cold cuts of meat – and focaccia – oven-baked Italian bread, served as a side or used as sandwich bread, which is made differently across Italy.

"Originally, we thought about opening a deli shop and takeaway, but it was hard to find the right place,” Giada added.

"We’re getting good feedback from customers, who like the taste of our food and have been returning for more.

"Everything is freshly made to order every day. We’re passionate about what we do, but our passion for cooking – funnily enough – comes from our mum, who is English.

"It’s a lot of hard work to make everything from scratch, but hopefully we can continue to bring a bit of Italy to Peterborough.”