I am a chef and first-generation Italian American from New York who moved to the South a little over two years ago. In “Searching for Italy in the South,” I'm on a quest to discover chefs who cook real Italian food, who have captured the essence of Italian cooking and are bringing the Old Country to the American South. For the next installment, I join Gian Pietro Ferro at Ristorante Bergamo in Greenville, South Carolina.

Greenville, the cultural entertainment hub of the upper state in South Carolina, is known for its bustling art scene, major performing arts center, picturesque surrounding parks, and delicious foods and drinks. This wasn’t always the case. In 1986, when founding chef Nello Gioia opened the doors of Ristorante Bergamo, he worried that his Northern Italian restaurant would fail, just as the boarded-up businesses around him had.