Michele Rotondo

Masseria Petrino

contrada Petrino
Palagianello (Taranto)
T. +39.099.8434065

Michele Rotondo was only 14 years old when he was getting up every morning at dawn, in order to travel from his native village Palagianello to the city of Bari. Here, in fact, he was attending the lessons of his first teacher and mentor, Mino Maggi, chef at the exclusive Golf Hotel in Riva dei Tessali. This place announced the debut of Michele as a kitchen boy, the first in a series of summer and winter seasons he spent working all over Italy: from Porto Cervo to Forte dei Marmi, up to the most fashionable Cortina d'Ampezzo. It was then the turn of Garda lake (Palazzo Arzaga), under the auspices of a great professional like Simone Cerea; without wasting the opportunity to have some useful experiences to the other side of the Alps, between Paris and Monaco.

The turning point, however, was marked by the encounter with Sergio Mei, a teacher and a friend who opened him up new horizons. At Four Seasons, Michele completed his novitiate, and could start thinking of a more mature and personal technique, perhaps to be moved to an ambitious place: restaurant Al Teatro, hidden inside a famous hotel in Milan. Dreams would seem to be fulfilled when our chef is hit by a sudden flash. It’s the calling from his roots, which not only meant nostalgia for the wild and rugged landscape of picturesque gravine surrounding his home village, but especially the need to take a stab at the flavors and aromas that are part of his gastronomic baggage.

This is how his new adventure in Apulia started, in an ancestral cottage just outside the village of Palagianello, restored with sober elegance to frame a very modern cuisine style, with moments of advanced experimentation and funny interpretation of classic dishes which, however, are combined with balanced and wise matching of ingredients. Raw materials themselves are one of the strengths of the offer of Masseria Petrino because Michele adopts the “zero kilometer” policy: the private kitchen garden, the deep knowledge of producers in the area and the freshest fish coming straight from the Ionian Sea. All this, as dishes constantly change, according to his creativity and seasonal availability.

Has participated in

Identità Milano, Sognatori del gusto


by

Vincenzo Rizzi