Italy

Immacolata Mauro

“Wine entered my life when everything was falling apart.” Immacolata Mauro grew up in a small town in Italy and was raised singlehandedly by her mother – her father passed away in a car accident before she was born. In 2010, Immacolata entered a school competition in wine and placed second. The prize was a partial scholarship for a sommelier course, which she jumped at the opportunity to take. Upon finishing her course, she was offered a one-month internship in London with the opportunity to stay on as an employee – an offer she had to decline as her mother had just begun chemotherapy treatment back in Italy. However, as fate would have it, in 2018 her path took her once more to London to work as a Senior Sommelier at Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair. While working there, she also completed her WSET Level 3 in Wine and has subsequently gained her WSET Diploma too. Immacolata is now back in Italy working as Assistant Head Sommelier at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group in Milan.