Stefano Manfredi brings Pizzaperta to The Star casino

Chef Stefano Manfredi is opening a new eatery mid-November, pitch-perfect for fans of pizza and the pokies.

Manfredi, who already has a stake of the restaurant pie at The Star, operating Osteria Balla at the casino, is opening Pizzaperta on Pirrama Road, underneath Balla.

Manfredi and his business partner, Julie Manfredi Hughes, will use imported Italian stoneground flour, with head chef Gianluca Donzelli in the kitchen. Donzelli, who last year nabbed fourth place at an international pizza competition in Naples, will turn out classic and ''new-wave'' pizzas.

If you thought it couldn't get any more Italian, Pizzaperta has the fingerprints of not one but two Australian-Italian architects, Luigi Rosselli and Vince Squillace, who've channelled "a reclaimed factory feel with classic Italianate features" for the open-air pizzeria and bar.