IlVillaggio restaurants have won an award by Grana Padano during the annual ceremony held in mid-January in New York City. Award winners and selected media were present at the event.

Grana Padano is a worldwide award that claims to have extremely high global standards. IlVillaggio was among 270 restaurant candidates from 70 countries around the world.

This award is given for the best Italian restaurant and to honor individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the introduction, diffusion and preservation of the Italian food culture in the countries they live in or globally in general.

They are awarded annually to chefs, writers, journalists and business people for the work performed during the previous year or for their whole career. The pre-selection for the Grana Padano Italian Cuisine Worldwide Awards 2013 was the result of a survey carried out by the recently certified Italian cuisine master chefs.

Nashwa Taher expressed her happiness over receiving the award at a ceremony organized in the Jeddah restaurant. She said: "Since the start of Ilvillaggio in 2006, we are working on rooting traditional Italian taste in our society. Winning the prize was not easy; it was the result of hard work and the support of my husband, Mahmoud Al-Maeena, and my son Omar Al-Maeena, who helped me to overcome the difficulties and obstacles that we had encountered. We also have a specialist team of talented Italian chefs, led by Chef Emmanuel Espozito, including Chef Vincenzo Rashella, Chef Raffaell and Tony Raithamaar. They rely on the preparation of meals from Italian products imported exclusively by our partner company International Catering and Trading Co. Ltd."

IlVillaggio Restaurants & Lounges is a complex with 6 restaurants and one gourmet shop, offering a wide range of original and traditional Italian dishes, bread and pastry from their own bakery.