Angelo and Maria Serpe

Angelo Serpe was born in 1946 in Salerno, Italy.  His father Joseph was a Chef for the Italian Cruise Lines.  Through his father he developed a love for cooking.  Although his father tried to steer him away from the business, Angelo enrolled in hotel cooking school at the age of 16 in Rome, Italy.

After hotel school, Angelo went to a private cooking school provided by the very cruise ship line that his father worked for, the Italian Cruise Lines.  He worked for the cruise lines from 1965 until 1969.  During this period, he met his future wife, Maria Rescigno.  They married in 1969 and moved to the United States.

Angelo was working in some of the finest hotels in New York and was eventually made the banquet chef at the famous "Regency Hotel".  A couple of years later, he became an executive chef, working in country clubs and hotels.  He won numerous awards including a gold medal in "Grand Buffet" and "Chef of the Year".

Angelo came to Virginia Beach in the late 1980s as a consultant for some local businessmen in a restaurant venture.  In 1990, Angelo opened the critically acclaimed "Pasta and Pani" winner of numerous awards and distinctions.  During this time, with the help of his wife, he began making his own pastas and sauces to ever-growing popularity.  He continued developing recipes at his restaurant for 12 years before selling and establishing his own pasta manufacturing plant "Nonna Maria Pasta", in the London Bridge area of Virginia Beach.

Today, you can find Nonna Maria products such as his Marinella Sauce and Della Casa House Salad Dressing as well as his raviolis and pastas in grocery stores and restaurants from Canada to South Carolina.

Matriarch of Pasta e Pani

Nonna Geppina and Family

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