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When the warmer months come around, it's become a growing trend for Italian chefs to leave the heat of the city and head out to popular tourist locations, where they can satisfy their holidaying palates instead.
It's a trend that looks set to continue in the anomalous summer of 2020, as more Italians and Europeans decide to holiday at home, or closer to home on the continent, as hospitality opens up again.
There are chefs who have designed menus in seaside hotels, with a focus on fine dining, and those who have opened up pop-up restaurants (and this year, as we have seen, there are many). There are also those who put their signature dishes to collaborations, and those who even move to another restaurant for the whole summer, perhaps by the sea?
Here are some of those Italian chefs' pop-ups and residences to look out for this summer:
Heinz Beck and Forte Village, Sardinia
Every year luxury resort Forte Village produces a rich gourmet program in Santa Margherita di Pula, in the province of Cagliari, attracting celebrity chefs from all corners of the globe.
Event dinners feature Michelin-star chefs from all over the world, but also chefs stationed in permanent restaurants, throughout the season, offering their signature menus.
This year, one of its restaurants is led by the three-Michelin-star chef from La Pergola in Rome, Heinz Beck for a second time. But there's also the kitchen of Il Luogo di Aimo and Nadia with the Pisani-Negrini duo, and La Terrazza San Domenico with chef Massimiliano Mascia of San Domenico di Imola.
Giancarlo Morelli at Phi Beach in Baja Sardinia
For some years now, this has been a regular appointment for Giancarlo Morelli, a skilful chef from Brianza Pomiroeu, and the restaurant that bears his name in the Milanese Hotel Viu: the chef shuttles between Milan and Baja's Phi Beach in Sardinia over the summer.
This magical place directly overlooks the beach, where you can enjoy a gourmet dinner while admiring the sea.
Roberto Okabe at Finger's Porto Cervo
Another certainty of the Sardinian summer? The arrival of the Japanese-Brazilian chef Roberto Okabe on the Costa Smeralda. This is where Fingers's Porto Cervo is located, an island version of the Milanese restaurant of the same name.
For the chef's eleventh year here, there's a new addition: a selection of signature cocktails, "twists on classics" based on sake, such as Caipisake Maracuja and Mojito Sake, which reflect the Japanese-Brazilian soul from Finger's. Drinks that represent the perfect pairing to accompany iconic dishes, also suitable for after dinner, to accompany the evening's DJ set.
The perfect address for those who don't want to give up on fusion cuisine... even when on vacation.
Andrea Berton's Menu at Club Med Cefalù
From island to island, we move to Sicily, where Michelin-star chef Andrea Berton has designed the menu at the Palazzo Gourmet Lounge inside Club Med Cefalù for the third year running. It's a menu inspired by Mediterranean flavours and the scents of beautiful Sicily.
Those at Lake Como can experience Berton's cuisine at the starred Berton al Lago restaurant, inside Il Sereno hotel in Como, where executive chef Raffaele Lenzi is in charge.
The Portinari Brothers at Lido di Venezia
The Portinari brothers, with the legendary cuisine of La Peca, will create three dinners in anticipation of the two-Michelin-star gastronomic experience that will be on stage next summer (the first gourmet rendezvous is scheduled for 30 July).
Franco Pepe's Pizza at San Montano Resort in Ischia
There is no shortage of signature pizzas on vacation. The new collaboration between the San Montano Resort in Ischia and Franco Pepe, the famous pizza maker from Pepe in Grani, begins in Caiazzo in these warmer months.
Here guests can enjoy the creations of the number one pizza maker by the pool this year. He is the creator of the now-famous pizzas such as Margherita Sbagliata, with DOP Campania buffalo mozzarella, tomato puree, sea urchin, reduction of basil and extra virgin olive oil.
Canteen, Fruits de Mer, Big Sur and the new Rafael by Luca Guelfi in Costa Smeralda
During the lockdown, Milanese businessman Luca Guelfi and owner of numerous much-loved Milanese addresses, inaugurated the first 'ghost kitchen' during quarantine, Via Archimede - Gastronomia di Quartiere.
And his enterprises don't stop in the summer: together with the opening of his three restaurants in Costa Smeralda, Big Sur Liscia Ruja, Fruits De Mer and Canteen in Poltu Quatu, from 4 July he inaugurated the new Rafael, in partnership with Andrea Orecchioni, patron of the La Scogliera de La Maddalena restaurant.
The proposal? An Italian and Spanish fish cuisine, which focuses on specialties such as Valencian paella.
