HE fires off the finest Italian pizzas in a clay oven for his customers daily, but in his spare time shotgun chef Francessco di Martino fires off his gun at clay flying through the sky.
His love of clay pigeon shooting began in his native Italy when he was a young boy.
And after many years running Franco’s in Peebles, he returned to the sport.
Franco’s sharp-shooting skills came back to him quickly, and his talent caught the attention of the right people who snapped him up for the Scotland squad 2017 when he made his debut in the Olympic Trap Home Countries International at the National Shooting Centre near Falkirk.
The chef competed in Malaga in January at the Grand Prix, and at the end of August he joined the squad for the Home International in Bisley.
The team were defeated by England and travelled home as runners-up.
Franco’s wife Marrisa, says clay pigeon shooting is his passion and when her husband isn’t pleasing the appetites of the people of Peeblesshire with his Italian culinary skills, he grabs his gun and takes off all over Scotland ‘perfezionare’ his skill in the sky.
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