Franco Palandra - About me

My culinary background starts from Caserta, my home town (a small city between Rome and Naples), where I was inspired by a family friend, who is a chef.  He has been my mentor since my first year at catering high school and my first time in professional kitchens.

Ever since, cooking and travel have been my passions.  After gaining a few years of experience around Caserta, I decided to move to Liguria, which influences my cooking style to this day.  After that, I traveled to Denmark, Luxembourg, Greece, and England.  

I lived all over England for a year and a half, and that time has had a lot of impact on my professional and personal lives.  In England, I was exposed to many heterogeneous cuisines and kitchens, and I got my first experience as head chef.  I also met my wife there.

After our time in England, my wife and I started a new adventure, joining the crew of a ship on the Cunard line.  During this time, I received a promotion to head chef of the Italian restaurant on board.  

After 5 years at sea, we decided to return to Italy, and we chose to live in Tuscany.  Arezzo has been our new home town ever since.  I became chef de cuisine at the restaurant Logge Vasari.  There, I refined all the cooking techniques that I learned over the years.

Nine years ago I started to work for Tuscookany, where I am the chef teacher at Torre del Tartufo villa.  Since the day we opened, I have enjoyed my work.  I try to communicate my passion and share my kitchen tricks with my guests.  I also try to teach the importance of seasonal and local food and the history of a culinary region.  We also demonstrate modern ways of cooking and presenting dishes.

On the side, I have started new activities as a catering consultant for hotels, restaurants, and coffee shops.  This is another opportunity to share all of my experience with food, including recipes, organizing a kitchen, food costs, training course, and how to make food personal.  

My life style is Mediterranean is my life style; my life is humble.

Simplicity is my secret to life.  In the magic of the kitchen, that simplicity becomes sophisticated in my dishes.