Domenico Francone Chef

"During my childhood, I loved accompanying my grandfather to the countryside, where he cultivated the vegetable garden, produced wine and oil, and where he also had a very small cattle farm. What fascinated me most, however, was when I returned home: the preparation of dishes with those same freshly harvested ingredients. Orecchiette alle cime di rapa' (orecchiette pasta with turnip tops) is the dish that sparked it in me. But in my childhood memories there are also the Sundays in Bari, my father's hometown, seasoned with real binges of fish bought from the fishermen on their return from the sea'.

Very attached to his homeland, this is how Chef Domenico Francone likes to introduce himself.

The story of Chef Domenico Francone

His first experience in the world of catering, already in secondary school, is in pastry, a discipline that has always fascinated him.

His career path leads him to travel and experience in prestigious Italian and international restaurants. A Michelin star arrives in Tuscany, at il Ristorante Beck's Banfi, a Michelin Star in 2008.

After the restaurant closed, Chef Domenico Francone moved to London where he worked at the starred restaurant Heinz Beck's Apsleysstarred restaurant. A magical and exhausting moment at the same time, which gives birth to him with the desire to continue traveling, but which also triggers a strong nostalgia for returning to Tuscany, his land of adoption

And it was here that Banfi offered him a second opportunity: to become Executive Chef of La Taverna.

In addition to La Taverna, supported by a talented brigade in both the dining room and kitchen, chef Domenico Francone also reopens the other restaurant, La Sala dei Grappoli, leading him to conquest the Michelin Star in 2020.

The Chef's words following the achievement of the Michelin Star

"The arrival of the Michelin Star is a great achievement that rewards our immense work and our enormous passion. A conquest that renewes itself every day, when we try to tell our guests about the variety of tastes and colors of Italian cuisine, trying to enhance its infinite potential".