Niko Romito super(Michelin)star

As of today, Niko Romito is the 14th chef in Italy who can proudly hold the highest recognition given by the Red Guide, that is to say the 3 Michelin stars. This record has just been ratified at Palazzo Giureconsulti in Milano, the location for the presentation of the 59th edition of Guida Michelin Italia the guide to Italian hotels and restaurants which this year, as director Michael Ellis pointed out, "includes 6,500 addresses in 2,000 towns, including 400 new entries". We will return soon on all the results but the most striking news is the third star shining over restaurant Reale in Castel di Sangro (L'Aquila), after the first one, in the 2007 edition, and the second one in the 2009 guide.

A very emotional Niko, with a shaky voice, said: «This is a goal but it is also a starting point. It is the fruit of some very brave choices, including the one of moving from Rivisondoli to Castel di Sangro, in Casadonna. I hope these 3 stars will speed up the many projects I still have, together with my sister Cristiana and all the team ».

Including restaurant Reale in Castel di Sangro (L'Aquila), the restaurants currently having 3 Michelin stars, are now 9 - 8 in Italy and one in Hong Kong, China, in Umberto Bombana’s Otto e Mezzo Bombana, too often ignored in the news covering Italy’s excellent restaurants. After all, while for many the first restaurant to obtain 3 Michelin stars is that of Gualtiero Marchesi in via Bonvesin de la Riva in Milan, in 1986, few remember that in fact the first Italian three starred chef arrived in the 1982 edition of the German Michelin: namely with Tantris in Monaco thanks to Heinz Winkler from Alto Adige who in fact kept the highest recognition for a quarter of a century, a record still unmatched.

The case of Enoteca Pinchiorri is famous – being the only restaurant that lost and then regained the 3 stars: the temporary loss was also due to the fire that destroyed the most supplied cellars in the world, on November 15th 1992. And there’s the famous case of Gualtiero Marchesi and Ezio Santin, who refused the 3 stars as they didn’t want to be judged by the French editors (though it happened when their respective restaurants had already been declassed from 3 to 2 stars, which happened in the same 1997 edition). Another case that stood out, was the promotion to the Empyrean Heaven of Massimiliano Alajmo when he was only 28: in November 2002 he was the youngest tri-starred chef in the worldwide history of the Michelin Guide.

Let’s move now to our days: we need to stress that since 2010, every year at least a restaurant, on average, has reached the top, which is a good demonstration of the high quality of contemporary Italian cuisine. As for the negative news, we remember the failing, last year, of Sorriso in Soriso, from 3 to 2 stars, a retrocession that didn’t affect Italy since the 2002 edition, when the only 3-starred restaurant in Southern Italy, namely Don Alfonso, of the Iaccarino family, lost its sceptre. But Southern Italy, as of yesterday, has a new leader.

THE CURRENT 3-STARRED RESTAURANTS
since 2014 Reale-Casadonna in Castel di Sangro (L'Aquila), chef Niko Romito

since 2013 Piazza Duomo in Alba (Cuneo), chef Enrico Crippa

since 2012 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Shanghai (China), chef Umberto Bombana

since 2012Osteria Francescana in Modena, chef Massimo Bottura

since 2010 Da Vittorio in Brusaporto (Bergamo), chef Enrico Cerea

since 2006 La Pergola in Rome, chef Heinz Beck

since 2003 Le Calandre in Rubano (Padua), chef Massimiliano Alajmo

since 1996 Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio (Mantua), chef Nadia Santini

in 1993-1994 and from 2004 to today Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, chef Annie Feolde first with Carlo Cracco then with Italo Bassi and Riccardo Monco

LOST 3 STARS
1998-2012 Sorriso in Soriso (Novara), chef Luisa Valazza

1997-2001 Don Alfonso 1890 in Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi (Naples), chef Alfonso Iaccarino

1990-1997 Antica Osteria del Pontein Cassinetta di Lugagnano (Milan), chef Ezio Santin

1986-1997 Gualtiero Marchesi in via Bonvesin de la Riva in Milan and at Albereta a Erbusco (Brescia), chef Gualtiero Marchesi

1982-2007 Tantris, Monaco di Baviera (Germania), chef Heinz Winkler