An intense portrait of chef Claudio Trovato, arms crossed in a dimly lit restaurant.

Chapter III · Now

Two worlds,
one kitchen.

Today I split my life — and my stoves — between two places far apart that, at the table, end up speaking the same language: that of Italian hospitality.

Mexico City · Jardines del Pedregal

Cooking on volcanic rock

Tetetlán — Casa Pedregal

In Mexico City I cook inside Tetetlán, the cultural space built around Casa Pedregal, a masterpiece by the architect Luis Barragán. Walls that play with light and shadow, volcanic rock that flows into the landscape, an atmosphere of contemplation in which time seems to stop — and around it, an art gallery, a library, evenings on vinyl.

Here Italian cuisine meets the mineral matter of the pedregal: a dialogue of light, stone and flavour that never stops surprising me.

Dolo · Riviera del Brenta

Among the Venetian villas and the vineyards

Hotel Villa Martin

The other half brings me back to Italy, on the Riviera del Brenta: Hotel Villa Martin, in Dolo, surrounded by greenery among the vines and along the famous road of the Venetian villas, twenty-five minutes from Venice. Frescoes, contemporary elegance and the villa's new restaurant, opened in 2025.

Here cooking returns to its roots: the Mediterranean, told with the calm and grace of the Veneto.

In the kitchen, anywhere The continents change. The care of the gesture does not.

Two ways to sit down with me

With the desire to create an intimate atmosphere of conviviality, I bring my cooking closer to people.

A convivial table: the chef standing at the head, guests seated around a large wooden table.

Home restaurant

My table, open

A few guests, a menu that changes with the market

I open my table to a small group of guests: a menu told dish by dish, the right wine, and the time to truly be together. No dining room, no distance — just the kitchen and the people, around the same wood.

The chef cooking in a pan during a lesson, in a cooking-class apron.

Cooking class

You learn with your hands

From ingredient to plate, together

Behind every recipe there's a gesture, and gestures are learned by doing them. In my cooking classes we cook side by side: techniques, tricks of the trade, and a few secrets that usually stay in the kitchen. We finish, of course, at the table — because learning, to me, is an act of conviviality too.

A page from Riso Gallo's «All the Risottos in the World» featuring chef Claudio Trovato's recipe.

A risotto in «All the Risottos in the World»

My recipe — Risotto with date bottarga, blue cheese and figs on crisp wafers — was featured in Riso Gallo's volume, alongside the finest interpretations of rice from every corner of the planet. A page signed by «Cucina», the Italian restaurant of the Marriott Marquis in Doha.

Best Italian ChefMiddle East
Ambassador of Italian cuisineUNESCO heritage
Ten years in Qatarup to the 2022 World Cup