“An innocent summer pastime has become the flame that burns brighter every day, making me wake up smiling.” For Chef Martina Piccoli, the kitchen is her home — the place she goes to with the greatest enthusiasm, where she expresses her truest sense of hospitality.
It all began almost as a summer game. After starting a degree in Law, Martina Piccoli left for the Canary Islands to work at her uncles’ restaurant. From the very beginning, she realised that spending time among pots and pans gave her a deep sense of fulfilment, and the days seemed to fly by.
After yet another summer in the Canary Islands, she decided to listen to that persistent inner voice and become a chef. She left Law school and began researching culinary institutions, including ALMA. She first enrolled in the Basic Course and then continued with the Advanced Course in Italian Cuisine, which led to an internship at Ristorante Coria in Sicily. After graduating, she began gaining experience in prestigious restaurants; the most significant chapter in this new phase of her life was her time at Villa Crespi under Chef Antonino Cannavacciuolo. She joined quietly as a commis chef, but within a short time progressed to the role of chef de partie.
Yet one name runs consistently through her story: ALMA. The School welcomed her back, this time as a chef de partie, responsible for one of its most structured and productive training kitchens — a space that regularly hosts chefs from all over the world.
Ensuring that visiting chefs feel completely at ease while using the facilities, working side by side with some of the most respected names in gastronomy, and creating a new synergy every time has fulfilled her not only professionally but also personally. Supporting guest chefs during the “Cene d’Autore” (Author’s Dinners) is always a challenge — like a blank page on which they begin to write together. Once the final course is served, Chef Piccoli is ready to turn the page and welcome the next chef.
This intense and concentrated journey, combined with her ability to lead a demanding brigade made up of young students at the very start of their careers, eventually led her to take the next step and become a Chef Lecturer on the Culinary Techniques Course.
“The intelligence and moral depth I found at ALMA — first as a student and now as a lecturer — is something that is difficult to encounter in professional kitchens, even Michelin-starred ones. Professionally they may be impeccable, but on a human level there is rarely the same opportunity for genuine exchange.”
Her favourite dish to cook: soups
Her favourite dish to eat: sandwiches
Cuisine in three words: self-criticism, coordination, expression.