Marcello Spadone

Marcello Spadone is one of the best chefs in Abruzzo. He’s one of the chefs who knows all the tricks, because he’s always hung around the kitchen. First it was his mother’s, who in 1977 returned to Rome from Civitella Casanova (Pescara) to transform an old tobacconist’s into a trattoria (now also a guesthouse). He then spent a lot of time in the kitchen of the Hotel management school in Pescara, and in restaurants around Italy, to acquire experience. Among these, perhaps the most important period was the one he spent at the Albereta at Gualtiero Marchesi’s court. A few years ago he returned home and transformed La Bandiera, the family restaurant created thirty years ago, into a place of greatness.

Spadone is a contemporary chef, tied to tradition but capable of rereading it through his experience. One of his objectives is offering an intelligent cuisine, with a link to good food but keeping prices within everyone’s reach. His project perhaps is less promoted than the similar choices made by other restaurateurs, but it is certainly appreciated by gourmets in Central Italy. The selection of suppliers is made following a criterion of absolute rigour, counting on the excellence of artisanal products and the quality of seasonal ingredients from the garden: vegetables picked daily, fragrant herbs, eggs, flour. As with all the recipes that have been polished by time, so Marcello Spadone’s ones are created to maintain a balance of tastes obtained in centuries of daily work.

His sensitivity, together with that of his wife, the unfailing Bruna Sablone, however, has managed to revisit the culinary customs of the past. The couple guides you on a journey to better understand the repertoire of recipes coming from a region that is still largely undiscovered. In the art of this quaint chef, a strong Mediterranean fragrance is not missing, freed from the opulent preparations that are now out of fashion. Marcello Spadone’s great merit is also that of using the simplest products in his territory. Valorising a great lamb, or truffle, is a relatively easy task. Making maccheroni with tomato and bread and meat balls or a chickpeas and chickling peas soup shine, is a different story.