Born in Taormina in 1981, Giuseppe Amato has been pastry chef of Rome’s three-Michelin-star La Pergola since 2006. Named Pastry Chef of the Year by Gambero Rosso (2019) and Identità Golose (2020), he blends French technique, Mediterranean produce and low-sugar lightness.
Raised among Etna’s citrus groves and almond trees, Amato trained at the Giarre hospitality school before discovering restaurant pastry at Hotel La Perla in Alta Badia. A 2003 stage with Heinz Beck sparked a collaboration that, three years later, made him head pâtissier at La Pergola (Rome Cavalieri), where he now leads a seven-strong pastry brigade.
His work rests on three pillars: controlled sweetness, textural contrast, Mediterranean memory. Icons include the “Deconstructed Tiramisù Cube” (2008), “Candied Lemon, Basil Cream & Almond Sorbet” (2015) and the 2023 “Apple, Celery & Fermented Caviar”—all showing freshness, umami and precision.
Gambero Rosso crowned him Pastry Chef of the Year 2019; Identità Golose echoed the accolade in 2020, noting his ability to cut sugar by up to 20 percent without losing aromatic length.
Amato curates La Pergola’s bean-to-bar chocolate selection with Valrhona and developed a bespoke 75 percent blend with Domori. In 2022 he published “Il Dolce di Amato” (Italian Gourmet), a 60-recipe manual focused on low-sugar glazes.
Committed to sustainability, he introduced compostable petit-four packaging and repurposes spent vanilla pods into natural extracts for gelato and fermented drinks. He speaks at Care’s – The Ethical Chef Days and teaches at the Valrhona School (Tain-l’Hermitage) on waste-reduction techniques.
“The pastry of the future will be indulgent, healthy and circular,” says the chef, who in April 2025 opened “Sweet Lab Rome” with his wife Martina—a research hub for fruit-by-product fermented desserts.
