Fabio Viviani was born in Florence, Italy, and became a sous chef at Il Pallaio, a trattoria in Firenze, at the age of sixteen. He now works as the owner and executive chef of the renowned Italian restaurants Café Firenze, in Moorpark, California; Firenze Osteria, in Los Angeles; and the new Siena Tavern, in Chicago. He has appeared on Top Chef (season five), Top Chef All Stars, and Life After Top Chef. He currently hosts his own Yahoo! channel cooking show, Chow Ciao!, which airs weekly.