Executive Pastry Chef at the Rome Cavalieri – A Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Dario Nuti blends French technique with the joyous soul of Italian pastry. Born in the Mugello countryside, he transforms memory, precision and emotion into desserts designed to be recognisable and memorable.
Born in the Mugello region with Sicilian and Milanese roots, Dario Nuti grew up in the Florentine countryside surrounded by aromas, gestures and stories that shaped his gastronomic sensibility. His mother passed on her instinct for flavour, while his grandmother, recognising his unusual talent, encouraged him to experiment: childhood “recipes” created with soil, stones and wild herbs became the first exercises in an imagination that would later merge fantasy and discipline.
His professional path began in local pastry shops and at the five-star hotel Le Maschere, where he took his first steps into high-end pastry. In 2008 he joined the Four Seasons as sous chef, and it was there that maître pâtissier Romain Renard introduced him to the rigor and aesthetics of classic French pastry. That encounter opened a new world of technique, structure and precision.
Nuti then spent three years working as Assistant Pastry Chef alongside Domenico Di Clemente, refining an elegant balance between French traditions and Italo-Canadian influences. Respect for textures, clean flavours and a meticulous eye for detail became the cornerstones of his style.
A subsequent experience at the Hotel Hassler with chef Francesco Apreda allowed him to explore new aromatic languages and a kind of pastry designed to dialogue with contemporary fine dining. His arrival at the Rome Cavalieri as Executive Pastry Chef marked the beginning of full artistic maturity: today Nuti leads a complex pastry department capable of shaping every moment of the guest experience.
His pastry philosophy merges aristocratic French technique with the festive warmth of Italian tradition. From morning croissants to mid-day mignon pastries, from tailor-made desserts for lunch and dinner to refined tea pastries and artisanal gelato, each preparation is conceived to be readable, elegant and emotionally resonant.
For Nuti, dessert is a form of well-being that borders on euphoria:
“A dessert doesn’t feed you; it comes at the end of a meal and is pure gratification. It becomes truly great only when it creates a memory.”
This vision shapes a pastry that does not simply conclude a meal but completes it with a gesture of care, identity and evocation.
