Massimiliano Saieva was born on August 13, 1973, in Italy. At the age of 7 his family moved to the suburbs of Rome, where he gave his first steps towards developing his passion for cooking. Learning the art of cooking from his mother, grandmother and as a teen Chef in traditional Italian cuisine. He found himself in love with the world of pizza and in particular "Teglia Gourmet". After discovering his new found passion Massimiliano decided to learn from the best Italian pizza makers in Italy. He learned and perfected the long chilled maturation process which is used by the best Italian restaurants, this innovative process aims to be the most digestible and healthy approach in the creation of dough. In 2004 without speaking a word of Spanish Massimiliano moved to Caracas — Venezuela with his wife Ana, where they opened their own first Italian restaurant. An array of authentic Italian food "Sabor a Vino" gave them 7 years of incredible satisfaction, unfortunately due to the fast changing social and political climate they decided to migrate to the USA. Based in Miami and with another language challenge they embarked on a new adventure. He decided to follow his instinct and passion opening one of the first, if not the first Roman Style pizzeria's in the USA. In 2012 Pizzarium a Slice of Rome established, he had a place where every day is an opportunity to create, experiment new dough formulas and bring innovation into the world of pizza. In 2014 after opening Pizzarium he and his friend Alex Manzo of Manzo Food Sales had a vision that Roman Pizza would be the next big trend in pizza. So they spent the next few years showcasing Roman Style Pizza on business trips, at trade shows, and seminars around the world. So in 2016 the Roman Pizza Academy was created due to the new and overwhelming demand to learn everything there is to know about the new style. Since opening Massimiliano has taught students from over 20 countries on 5 continents establishing himself as one of the worlds authorities on Roman Pizza.
Kevin Konn was born on March 15, 1981 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. At the age of 18 he started making New York style pizza as a summer job while playing Junior hockey in Columbus Ohio. In 2001, Kevin attended University of Pittsburgh. While attending college, Kevin worked as a pizza maker at Italian Village Pizza where he first met Richard Sphatt, a chef from New York who became his mentor. Under the guidance of chef Richie, Kevin left college to attend the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute Le Cordon Bleu school of culinary arts. During culinary school, Kevin worked at Il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon Pennsylvania where he learned Neapolitan pizza from Ron Molinaro. In 2012 Kevin opened Pizzaiolo Primo in downtown Pittsburgh and headed the Neapolitan pizza program. In 2015 Kevin joined Team Polselli in affiliation with Manzo Foods to attend the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas where he first met Massimiliano Saieva, lead instructor of the Roman Pizza Academy. It was there that Kevin turned his attention to the craft of Roman Pizza. During the past 3 years Kevin received training and support from Massimo. In November 2018, Kevin opened Romulus Pizza al Taglio in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.
