The recipient of the latest Michelin Female Chef Award by Veuve Cliquot is the owner, chef, and manager of the SUD restaurant in Quarto (Naples)
The great chef, manager, as well as owner of the SUD restaurant in Quarto Flegreo, a small town in the province of Naples, is unstoppable and continues to receive recognition for her impressive abilities. The latest one, “Michelin Chef Donna 2020” was conferred to her during the 5th edition of Veuve Clicquot’s Atelier des Grandes Dames event. With which, the champagne maison’s network celebrates women’s talent in haute cuisine. In her words: “SUD is a small idea with many words. Love and passion, fury, and fatigue. Anxiety and joy, research, and work. Words that are the bricks with which we have built our way of being in the world: the way of the South.”
The great chef is unstoppable and continues to receive recognition for her impressive abilities
Marianna Vitale, Vitale comes from the Porta Capuana neighborhood in Naples, where she was born in 1980. She grew up “in a house full of people, a seaport where people ate at all hours, where I saw more pots and pans than toys.” Her father was a professional chef and she was wanted to attend culinary school. However, her mother didn’t agree with it because “the expectations in the family were different – and that kind of school was only for boys to attend.” So, in 2004, she graduated summa cum laude in Spanish language and literature with a thesis on the myth of “The Feast with the Statue”. She initially worked as a tour guide, but eventually, she managed to enter the kitchen of Palazzo Petrucci to learn from Lino Scarallo. In 2009, thanks to her determination Vitale opened her own restaurant with Pino Esposito. Only two years later, she was crowned best emerging chef for Il Sole 24 Ore. While in 2012, she became one of the 168 chefs heading a Michelin-starred restaurant around the globe, 43 of which are Italian. In 2015, she received two awards for “Best Chef in Italy” from L’Espresso and Identità Golose. At the same time, her I’mpepata’ became the dish of the year for Il Mattino. In 2017, Identità Golose also awarded her its Identità Donna accolated. In 2018, she became one of the women of the year for the Lydia Cottone “Napoli è donna” award. Also, last year, Sud was nominated as the best Italian restaurant for Pasta proposal according to Gambero Rosso 2020 guides.
She comments the above saying: “While awards might make you happy for a moment, more importantly, they give you the motivation to keep going and the understanding that even in a little town like Quarto, among a thousand obstacles, you can do good things.”
Ilona Catani Scarlett