Luigi Sartini

Luigi Sartini offers to the people of San Marino and to tourists, the dishes of his territory, the smallest and most ancient Republic in the world which, surrounded by Italy, appears almost invisible on the culinary map, like the small Lilliput land, the one illustrated by novelist Swift centuries ago. Sartini, a modern Gulliver armed with pots and pans, has helped the Lilliputian people of San Marino to emerge on the culinary scene of the entire peninsula. He starts to work already 25 years ago, running the historic Taverna Righi, opened in the Sixties by the homonymous family which, represented by Maria, has fed the 2 generations that have passed through Piazza della Libertà, in the heart of the State.

Just like Gulliver, Sartini starts from his land to meet other cuisines and life masters, including Marchesi and Angelini, who have inspired his curiosity in making traditional dishes and recipes re-live, his wise use of creativity and the passionate rigour in the building of his profession as a chef. In 1990 he returns to San Marino, when the Righi family challenges him to bring the Taverna to represent San Marino’s gastronomy beyond its borders. The finish-line is reached and overcome, the entrance of Righi is crossed by an ever growing number of tourists and gourmet fans and in 2008 the most desired award arrives with the Michelin star.

Sartini has maintained intact the integrity and the desire to let people know the products of his territory thanks to preparations that are always contemporary and never banal, without giving way to the influence of easy trends or “tourist-catching” influences. Among the first to speak of “chilometro-zero”, ultra-local products, he likes to stress that he uses products protected by the Consorzio Terre di San Marino and the aim in his dishes is always that of showing his territory at its best, with simplicity and taste. This Gulliver at the stove today has the uncommon responsibility of representing with his cuisine that of a whole State.