Gianluca is of Italian origins and is immensely proud and patriotic of his roots. With his grandparents immigrating to Melbourne from Basilicata, Calabria and Friuli and majority of his family still living there, the country is held dearly to his heart and he often reminisces about memories made there. The only thing he loves more than Italy is his family, and in particular what brings them together - food.

Ever since a young age Gianluca has been surrounded by and brought up eating food from what he considers the best cuisine in the world and has distinct memories of making pasta with his paternal Nonni as a five-year-old.

Through school he didn’t quite find his academic spark but always came back to cooking, having a passion, but not pursuing it. In Year 10 he took up the opportunity to complete a Certificate III in Hospitality (Kitchen Operations) and that grew his passion further and lit a fire inside him. In Year 12 he received the Dux of Hospitality for his completion of the course and to this day he considers it as one of his greatest achievements.

In the second quarter of 2018, while studying VCE he started working in a famous Italian restaurant in the inner north suburbs of Melbourne. Whilst he never really enjoyed school and even contemplated dropping out in Year 11; he pushed through and motivated himself by leaving for Italy the year after graduating for a six-month sabbatical. There he fell further in love with the culture and understood the way of old techniques and traditions in the family, which slowly started inspiring an idea for something bigger.

Upon returning to Melbourne, he took advice from family members and business owners about the idea of starting a catering business. One member in particular, motivated him to pursue it and suggested the name “Da Gianluca Catering”.

Overcoming his fears and doubts to take on the “just do it” mantra, he got to work and began planning for his new business, only to be pushed back by the COVID pandemic. Devastated he tried to find a way to make it work and adapted to the conditions and started takeaway options.

In 2022, Gianluca successfully completed a three-year ‘Bachelor of Business’ degree, he then returned once again to Italy to further hone the artisan skills of traditional Italian regional cuisine and from then, the “Gianlu” persona was born.

In March 2024 Via Gianlu officially launched - a street food van specialising in schiacciate with a southern leaning menu.

Gianlu hopes to bring this way of living he experienced back home to Melbourne and provide a little piece of Italy through his food while keeping it “semplice ma gustoso!”