If your stomach controls your heart and brain, congratulations, you are a foodie. As the taste of the world is changing, dragging much into presentation and fusions of numerous traditions, all thanks to chefs.
Everyone knows that Italy is a must to go destination for food lovers as the presence of numerous dishes. Today, on deck, we will be talking about Italian chefs’ right below:
Table of Contents
Andrea Accordi.
The Italian chef Andrea Accordi is the first chef who has received the Michelin star in Eastern Europe. He then received his second Michelin star in 2008. He works in the Percorso Restaurant in the Four Season Hotel Palace as an executive chef.
Andrea, who started his professional career just at the age of seventeen, is extremely secretive when it comes to his personal life, including his current relationship status and net worth.
Massimiliano Alajmo.
The Italian chef Massimiliano actually came into the spotlight for becoming the youngest chef in the world to get three Michelin Guide’s star. He started his professional culinary career in 1992, working for Le Calandre along with his mother, chef Rita Chimento.
Massimiliano is the part of the fifth generation of his family who works as chefs and restaurateurs. He is now regarded to be one of the top ten wealthiest chefs in Italy.
Andrea Apuzzo.
Andrea Apuzzo is an Italian chef who is a James Beard Foundation member. He was born in Italy and has traveled around Europe, the United States of America, the Caribbean to cook. Italian Chef Andrea Apuzzo is also an author who has written two cookbooks.
Do you know Andrea has cooked for Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne, Clint Eastwood, Ted Kennedy, Tommy Lasorda, Omar Sharif, Jimmy Carter, Sophia Loren, Lee Meriwether, and Jack Kemp?
Massimo Capra.
Massimo Capra is an Italian celebrity chef, and restaurant consultant who grabbed huge attention for appearing on CityLine and Food Network shows like Chopped: Canada, Restaurant Makeover, and Top Chef Canada.
Massimo was previously working on a new restaurant after his Toronto airport-based restaurant named Boccone’s became successful. He has also written a cookbook named One-Pot Italian. He is now the brand ambassador for Buitoni Pizza.
Caesar Cardini.
Caesar Cardini was one of the famous Italian born American chef, restaurateur, and hotel owner. He is best to remember for creating Caeser salad. He was born on 24th February 1896 and grew up alongside his seven siblings.
Sadly, Caeser died on 3rd November 1956 in Los Angeles, California, the United States of America. He was 60 years old then.
Antonio Carluccio.
In the list of late Italian chefs, how can someone forget about Antonio Carluccio? He was a famous chef, food expert, businessman, author, and restaurateur, who was active in the cooking career for almost half a century.
Antonio, however, came into the spotlight for making numerous television appearances alongside pal Gennaro Contaldo and BBC television series, Two Greedy Italians.
Antonio died on 8th November 2017, at tha age of 80. He was married thrice and divorced in the same number.
Pasquale Carpino.
Pasquale Carpino was also a famous Italian chef and operatic singer who was based in Toronto. He was born in 1936, in Calabria, Italy, and died on 30th December 2005, at the age of 69 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Do you know the late chef actually started his professional cooking career as a dishwasher and later became prep cook at numerous restaurants? Pasquale has also hosted numerous cooking shows like Pasquale’s Kitchen and Pasquale’s Kitchen Express in between the 180s and 1990s.
He often used to mention that singing to the food turns the food to come out well.
Cesare Casella.
Cesare Casella is a famous Italian chef and restaurateur based in New York City. The chef celebrates the simple and quality of ingredients in the food.
Cesare moved to New York City with the motto to introduce Tuscan style cooking in the American community. He had worked as an executive chef in the Coco Pazzo in 1993. Soon later, he launched its sister restaurant named II Toscanaccio.
In March 2001, Cesare launched his first solo restaurant in New York, Beppe. He has made numerous appearances in television shows like Top Chef, Nightline, The Martha Stewart Show, Good Day Café, Iron Chef America, The Best Thing Ever, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, and many others.
Gianfranco Chiarini.
Italian chef Gianfranco Chiarini is widely known for his Italian nouvelle fusion cuisine. He was born on 8th February 1966, in Ferrara, Italy, and later grew up in Italy, the United States of America, and Venezuela.
Before officially starting a cooking career, Gianfranco was into music. He was a rock singer in nightclubs and pubs for numerous American rock bands. He then studied at the Instituto de Alta Gastronomia de Caracas in 1986, where he studied and worked for numerous restaurants.
Till the date, the 53 years old chef has worked in numerous countries like Spain, Ireland, the U.K., Asia, New Zealand, Africa, Oceania, and Australia. He is a married man and leads a healthy marital life with wife Anna Kinga Jaroslawska. They got married on 7th September 2010.
Gennaro Contaldo.
Gennaro Contaldo is a famous Italian chef and restaurateur who came into the spotlight for appearing in the television series, Two Greedy Italians. He also came into fame for his associations with Jamie Oliver and Antonio Carluccio.
The 70 years old chef is the brand ambassador for Citalia, a luxury Italian holiday specialist. He moved to London in 1969, where he first established business of Italian antiques before returning to his cooking career.
Gennaro Contaldo is a married man. The details of his wife and wedding are not disclosed; however, sources have confirmed that they tied the knot in 1974. The pair has three children together.
Salvatore Cuomo.
Salvatore Shigeta Cuomo is an Italian-Japanese chef, media personality, and restauranteur, widely known for his food-focused cookbooks and television shows all across Asia. He is widely known as The Pizza Man and The Grand Chief in Japan.
The 47 years old chef first worked as a pizzaiolo in Naples, where he got a chance to experience preparing pizzas and Italian dishes. He started television career appearing in numerous television programs like Iron Chef and Buona Sera.
Salvatore has written numerous books like Welcome to Neapolitan Dining Table, Sun’s Dining Table, One Life, Happy Pasta, and #PizzaUnesco.
The chef is married to wife Pia Schallenberger, and they tied the knot in 2014.
Gino D’Acampo.
Gennaro Sheffield D’Acampo AKA Gino D’Acampo is a popular Italian chef and media personality who came into the spotlight for appearing as a regular chef on This Morning. He has presented numerous television programs like “There’s No Taste Like Home,” “Let’s Do Lunch,” and “Gino’s Italian Escape.”
The 43 years old chef launched a chain of restaurants, My Pasta or My Restaurants, with its five restaurants in 2013. He owns numerous restaurants in Camden Town, Leadenhall Market, Euston Railway Station, Bishopsgate, The Manchester Corn Exchange, and other places.
Gino is a married man and lives with his wife, Jessica. They exchanged wedding vows in 2002 and have three children together.
Back in 1998, he was once accused of burgling Paul Young’s home, for which he served around two years in prison.
Attilio di Fabrizio.
Attilio Di Fabrizio is an Italian chef who attended Villa Santa Cookery School. His formal education was followed by training in numerous countries like Italy, Switzerland, Great Britain, and France. He developed cookery skills from different parts of the world before returning to Hotel Cipriani in Venice.
Attilio returned to Italy to work at Enoteca Pinchiorri after working for the Americas from 1975 to 1983. He once had participated in the Great Chefs television series.
Raffaele Esposito.
The late Italian chef Raffaele Esposito was the owner of Pizzeria de Pietro e Basta Cosi. He is still considered as the father of the modern pizza. Back in 1989, pizza was not that popular and was considered to be eaten by only poor people.
Raffaele then was requested to prepare pizza for Queen Margherita of Savoy. In return, he prepared three different types of pizza. As the Queen had never tasted pizza before, she enjoyed the dish. He used the recommendations passed by the queen to promote his restaurant. Now, you must have heard about Pizza Margherita, the name he gave to the pizza which the Queen Margherita enjoyed the most.
Mario Frittoli.
Mario Frittoli is a renowned Italian chef based in Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo, Japan. He was born on 1st Aril, 1966, in Pavia, Lombardia, Italy. He traveled to Japan back in 1987 after Paul Bocuse, and Angelo Paracucchi were on the plans of opening restaurants in the Daimaru Department Store.
Mario worked as the chef in Hotel Villa in 1983, the chef in Ristorante La Lanterna from 1984 to 1985, Paracucchi “Locanda Dell’Angelo” from 1986 to 1987, the chef in Michelin two-starred Le Carpaccio in 1988, instructor in Daimaru from 1988 to 1989, professor at Tsukiji Culinary Institute
in 1989, and many others.
Mario opened II Forno in Tokyo, Japan, in 1990. He was the Vice President of Stillfoods from 1994 to 2001, which opened 38 restaurants and had 1000 employees. He then launched restaurants like Luxor Shirogane in Tokyo, Japan in 2002, Luxor Marunouchi in Tokyo, Japan in 2005, and Mario I Sentieri in Tokyo, Japan, in 2008.
Giorgio Locatelli.
Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli is widely known as the co-judge of The Big Family Cooking Showdown alongside Rosemary Shrager. He first opened Olivo Restaurant before launching Zafferano in February 1995.
Back in February 2002, he and his wife Plaxy launched their first restaurant named Locanda Locatelli in Seymour Street.
Besides being the owner of numerous restaurants, Giorgio appeared in six television series like Pure Italian in 2002, Italy Unpacked since 2013, MasterChef Italia since 2011, and The Big Family Cooking Showdown since 2017. He became MasterChef Italia’s judge in January 2019.
Giorgio currently enjoys a healthy marital life with the English wife, Plaxy. Giorgio andwife Plaxy are blessed with two children; Jack and Margherita. The family of four enjoys a healthy familial relationship in Camden, London.
Gualtiero Marchesi.
The founder of the modern Italian cuisine Gualtiero Marchesi was a famous Italian chef who died on 26th December 2017. The late chef first gained cooking experiences in his parents’ hotel and restaurant named L’Albergo del Mercato in Via Bezzecca.
Gualtiero actually left his school to focus on his work at Hotel Kulm when he was only seventeen years old. He was also a musician.
Before returning to Milan and launching a small hotel with his parents, he had worked in numerous destinations of the world like Paris, Roanne, and Dijon. His first restaurant was in Milan.
He then opened another restaurant named Gualtiero Marchesi di San Pietro all’ Orto in 1998 and later opened a restaurant in Paris. He turned to the celebrity chef designing two hamburgers and dessert for McDonald in 2011.
Back in May 2017, Gualtiero and director Maurizio Gigola documented documentary movie, Marchesi: The Great Italian.
Martino da Como.
Martino de Rossi AKA Maestro Martino was an Italian chef from the 15th century who was a culinary expert. He was the Western world’s first celebrity chef. He served as the chef of the Patriarch of Aquileia.
Martino had written a book full of recipes named Liber de arte coquinaria, which consists of precious testimony of kitchen etiquette and recipes from the middle ages.
Renato Piccolotto.
The Italian chef Renato Piccolotto was born in 1954 in Asolo, Italy. The renowned chef is currently busy serving as the executive chef of the Hotel Cipriani in Venice. He started his service in 1983 and is still active in the hotel.
The 65 years old chef had been the head chefs for numerous events of Elton John that was set during the Academy Award Ceremony.
Giovanni Rana.
If you are a keen fan of pasta, then you must know about Italian chef Giovanni Rana. He is the founder of Giovanni Rana brand of Italian food products, which includes sauces, refrigerated pasta, and ready-made foods.
Giovanni launched the brand in 1962 and since then has been distributing it to 38 countries. During his early days, he first produced pasta and delivered it to door-to-door with his motorbike.
As the demands increased, he discussed with the local engineers and mechanics to develop new machines to meet the demands of the people for pasta.
After his son joined the company, he expanded the brand to the European countries and the United States of America. The first factory was opened in Chicago in 2002.
Gian Franco Romagnoli.
The late Italian chef, television personality, and author Gian Franco Romagnoli was born in 1926 and died on 15th December 2008. The late chef grabbed huge attention after hosting the American program The Romagnoli’s Table alongside his wife named Margaret.
The show was about the Italian cookery which was telecasted for two years from 1973 to 1975. After the show ended, Gian launched the restaurant, which later closed in 1989 after ten years of operation. He then opened two sister restaurants and even wrote three cookbooks.
His book named The Bicycle Runner: A Memoir of Love, Loyalty, and Italian Resistance, was published a year after his death.
After his wife Margaret died in 1995, he moved on and married the second wife, Gwen O’Sullivan, in 1998.
Bartolomeo Scappi.
Bartolomeo Scappi was a famous Italian chef who came from the town of Dumenza. As there were no social media accounts and nothing to store the data, there is very little information about him.
Bartolomeo was born in 1500 and died on 13th April 1577 at the age of 77. Some inscriptions on the stone plaque mentioned that he had organized a banquet in April 1536 while he was serving in Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio.
He served at pope Pius IV and later continued working as the chef in pope Pius V. He actually is the first internationally known celebrity chefs. His cookbook named Opera dell’arte del cucinare consists of 1000 recipes of cuisine, cooking tools, and techniques where the fork was first pictured.
Maurizio Vasco.
Maurizio P. Vasco is an Italian chef, television director, author, and video journalist who started his career in the media industry back in 1978. He came into the spotlight for his pictures on Weekend Magazine and stories covered on Universo’s Comics.
Besides being an author, journalist, and directing career, he has been taking his chef career side by side. He grew a passion for wines, gastronomy, and culinary arts. He has created menus for many Manhattan ventures like Anarchy Café, Gallo Nero, Bacco, Taci opera, Mambo, and Porta Toscana. However, as of now, he is retired.
Heinz Winkler.
Heinz Winkler is an Italian born German chef who has received three Michelin stars. He came into the hype for being the first Italian ever to win three Michelin stars. Likewise, he received the three Michelin stars in 1981 when he was only 32 years old.
Talking about his personal life, he is a married man. The name of his wife is Denise Winkler. As an actor, Heinz has appeared in movies like Garmischer Bergspitzen.
As an author, Heinz has written several books like Engineers in Tanzania: A Secondary Analysis, Graduate, and Employer Survey 1985, Faculty of Engineering, University of Dar Es Salaam alongside Harald Schomburg, and K. Hartmann.
- Aldo Zilli.
Aldo Zilli is an Italian celebrity chef who was chef-patron and founder of some innovative restaurants like Zilli Green, Signor Zilli, Zilli Bar, and Zilli Café. His Italian seafood restaurant named Zilli Fish was opened for over fifteen years.
Till the date, Aldo has written ten cookbooks, including two autobiographies; My Italian Country Childhood and Being Zilli. As a television personality, he regularly appears as a chef and presenter.
He has appeared in numerous shows like a judge in Celebrity MasterChef, This Morning, Who’s Doing The Dishes?, One Man and His Hob, The Real Hustle, Home Is Where The Heart Is, and so on.
Aldo is married twice and divorced once. He was first married to Jan Zilli. After divorcing the first wife, he married second wife Nikki Zilli in 2005. He is the father of three children.
