Romano was born in 1934 in Pieve Torina, in the Italian region of Marche.
Since his young age, his attitude towards self establishment was obvious. Playing in the street with his neighborhood buddies, often getting in a little trouble, he managed to get himself a ticket on the first bus of the city one way to Rome, obviously he was then fetched by his parents and brought back home.

In Rome, he started working in small grocery stores, specializing and spending the rest of his career in the fine food world.

He built not only his career, but also such a large circle of friends that affectionately begun to call him “zio” (uncle), as we do in Italy, establishing the mythical figure of Zio Romano.