When it comes to pizza, most of us can’t wait for crusty dough covered in rich tomato and melting mozzarella to come out of the oven and onto our plates. But pizzaiolo (pizza maker) Ettore Bertonatio would rather perfect his dough-spinning acrobatics than sit down to eat.

For hours every morning, he can be found in Adelaide’s Parklands, practising his dizzying routine to the sound of traditional Italian music.

Bertonatio is preparing for the World Pizza Games, held annually in March at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, where he will compete in the freestyle event.

“This is my passion; I wake up and I think just of pizza,” he says.

The 2014 national gold medallist in freestyle acrobatics arrived in Australia two years ago from Naples, Italy.

It’s not surprising that he knocked on the door of Etica Ethical Pizzeria e Mozzarella Bar on Gilles Street, where he now works.

Ettore Bertonatio at Etica pizzeria. Photo Brenton Edwards/Stories Well Told

Etica is the only restaurant in South Australia certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (True Neapolitan Pizza Association).

“I guess it was lucky for us he found us, rather than us trying to search him,” owner Melissa Merola says.

“Ettore is trained to create that type of pizza and he does it very well.”

Freshness and simplicity are on the menu at Etica, with ingredients sourced from family gardens and recipes handed down from generations, as is the Napoli way.

“It’s the mother of pizza – Napoli is the place where pizza was born,” Bertonatio says.

“In old, traditional Neapolitan families, we make pizza every day.”

While Bertonatio might be proud of his Italian roots, he’s excited to don the green and gold for the World Pizza Games.

This article was first published by Stories Well Told.

See InDaily‘s review of Etica Ethical Pizzeria e Mozzarella Bar here.