Monday, October 13 marked the end of the sixth edition of the Food&Wine Italia Awards 2025. The evocative frescoed hall of Palazzo Ripetta—a 5-star hotel just a stone’s throw from Piazza del Popolo, affiliated with Relais & Châteaux—was the setting for a new exciting edition promoted by Food&Wine Italia. Once again this year, the driving forces behind the initiative were excellence, talent, creativity, innovation, and social responsibility in Italian food and wine. The ceremony, sponsored by the Rome Department of Agriculture, Environment, and Waste Cycle, was presented by host Francesca Romana Barberini and Editor-in-Chief Federico De Cesare Viola, who stated: “We can proudly say that the Food&Wine Italia Awards are now one of the most eagerly awaited and recognized events in the world of Italian food and wine. I believe the reason lies in the seriousness and authority of our awards, which are assigned solely on the basis of independent editorial choices, and in our ability to scout, identifying the most deserving talents and projects every year.”
The winners of the 2025 edition will be decided by a jury of experts and journalists from the sector, led by the editorial staff of Food&Wine Italia and composed of Guido Barendson, Antonio Boco, Marco Bolasco, Salvatore Cosenza, Andrea Febo, Anna Gentili, Danilo Giaffreda, Emanuele Gobbi, Ray Isle, Åsa Johansson, Chiara Maci, Giambattista Marchetto, Paola Mencarelli, Salvo Ognibene, Maria Pasquale, Anna Prandoni, Lorenzo Ruggeri, Leila Salimbeni, Margo Schachter, Annalisa Testa, and Gabriele Zanatta. This annual event will once again take place in Rome, this time at Palazzo Ripetta. “Excellence, like madness, is contagious, and I have great affection for the Food&Wine Italia team. In this event, we find the same meticulousness that also distinguishes Palazzo Ripetta,” begins Alessia Meli, Maître de Maison at Palazzo Ripetta. A success achieved through commitment and dedication, which today allows the Roman hotel to celebrate the recognition of its first Michelin Key.
Palazzo Ripetta
The award ceremony saw Italian excellence and talent take turns in an exceptional location, the Salone Bernini. A true hidden treasure of Palazzo Ripetta, with its long nave, two side chapels, and high altar. A spectacle within a spectacle, where, looking up, you can admire Il Trionfo della Divina Provvidenza (The Triumph of Divine Providence) frescoed on the ceiling. What is now a deconsecrated church once housed a conservatory of divine providence that welcomed girls in need. This sensitivity still finds concrete expression today through a significant female component in the staff and management of the structure.
Here are Italy’s Best Under 35
It is women and their commendable achievements that seal the first Under 35 awards. First up is the Best Maître and Sommelier Under 35 award—in collaboration with Berlucchi Franciacorta—awarded to Jessica Rocchi, who manages the dining room at Andrea Aprea restaurant (Milan), for transforming the dining room into a place of storytelling and discovery, where every wine becomes a story to be heard. Best Winemaker Under 35 – in collaboration with Italesse – goes to Federica Boffa Pio, who has taken up the more than century-old legacy of the Pio Cesare agricultural company in Alba (Cuneo) with talent and determination.
In this sixth edition, the Best Chef Under 35 award—in collaboration with Frantoio di Sant’Agata d’Oneglia—went to Vincenzo Russo of Bluh Furore, the restaurant at the Furore Grand Hotel on the Amalfi Coast. For translating his connection to his homeland into elegant, modern, and mature cuisine. He gave a taste of this at the after party with his seafood pasta maritata with “Amare” extra virgin olive oil. To find the new Best Pastry Chef Under 35, you have to go almost to the border, to Godia (Udine). Here, in the realm of Emanuele Scarello with his Agli Amici, the sweet elegance of Riccardo Celeghin stands out, capable of making every end of a meal unforgettable and delicious. At the end of the evening, Celeghin—in collaboration with Marlene—brought a white chocolate and rosemary cream to envelop a purée of cooked apples, ricotta ice cream, and a small almond wafer.
Best Pizza Chef Under 35 – with Sorì Italia – is Ciccio Vitiello, head chef at Cambia-Menti, San Leucio (Caserta). He embodies the generative power of evolution, based on exuberant talent combined with a clear ethical and entrepreneurial vision. Vitiello then proposed a pizza with artichoke cream, artichokes, toasted pine nuts, smoked provola cheese from Sorì Italia, Cantabrian Reserva di Coda Nera anchovy fillets, garlic oil, parsley, and fresh mint.
The Best Bartenders Under 35—in collaboration with Bonaventura Maschio—are Mattia Capezzuoli and Alice Musso from the Stravinskij Bar, Hotel de Russie (Rome). For bringing new life to Italian mixology, with a style that combines technical rigor and creative sensitivity. For the occasion, in the garden of Palazzo Ripetta, they presented the Secret Americano: a twist on the great classic cocktail based on Vermouth and Bitter by Bonaventura Maschio.
The moment of the “Maestro di cucina 2025” award—in collaboration with Monograno Felicetti—saw Editor-in-Chief Federico De Cesare Viola dedicate a heartfelt introduction: “It is an honor for me to present this award. There are experiences that remain in your memory and, in a certain sense, the chef I am about to call on stage represented a sort of initiation into this work for me, always with the same authentic passion.” A master is someone who teaches and inspires, and for the Food&Wine Awards 2025, that person is Massimiliano Alajmo, chef and owner of Le Calandre, for having made technical precision his personal language and simplicity a gesture of style.
Il Panino d’Autore – in collaboration with Consorzio Tutela Aceto Balsamico di Modena – looks to the Land of the Rising Sun this year with the Milanese format of Katsusanderia. The Best Hotel Breakfast? It goes to Portrait Milano – in collaboration with Coda Nera – with its Italian classics and international inspirations. Treccani Accademia, on the other hand, recognized the virtuous project linked to wine with an award for Innovation to AMProject and for Social Responsibility to Cascina Clarabella. Cantina Tollo then presented the awards for Social Responsibility for food to the Cooperativa agricola Co.r.ag.gio and to Chefs for Innovation – Basque Culinary Center for Innovation in food. The latter project is also active in Italy with Ciro Scamardella of Pipero in Rome, Giovanni Oliveri sous chef of Orma, Davide Guidara of I Tenerumi in Vulcano, and Alberto Gipponi of Ristorante Dina in the province of Bergamo.
The award ceremony was followed by a convivial gathering in Piazzetta Ripetta, the beautiful internal courtyard of the five-star hotel, with tastings prepared by the winners, sponsors, and San Baylon’s resident chef Christian Spalvieri, who presented his Carnaroli rice, black cabbage, blue cheese, and almond dish. Another edition has come to an end, with the spotlight once again on Italian food and wine excellence. In this sense, Food&Wine Italia has once again promoted a circuit of quality that is on a par with the international one.
Dining and Cooking