According to Salvatore Aloe, "St Francis of Assisi was a rock star. Our St Francesco is a punk rock star."

Maida is hometown to Salvatore and his brother Matteo, founders of Italy's Berberè and London's Radio Alice pizzerias. Salvatore has returned for the Ciciarata, the annual Saint's Day event where Francesco's most celebrated achievement – feeding the needy – is recreated.

It's done in impressive style on an epic scale: overnight a group of local men cook pasta, chickpeas and tomato sauce to be served to, depending who you believe, between 5,000 and 10,000 locals and visitors.

The plan is for the brothers to recreate something similar this summer in London, in aid of local charities. Salvatore looks around smiling. Quite how they'll do it remains to be seen – with open flame, and gallons of boiling water, the words 'health', 'safety' and 'nightmare' spring to mind – but with St Francesco on their side, anything's possible...

Radio Alice's version of the festival takes place on 29 July; radioalicepizzeria.co.uk