Born near Naples in 1987, Francesco Nunziata has been Executive Chef at Castello di Fighine (San Casciano dei Bagni, Tuscany) since 2021. After almost fifteen years with Heinz Beck at La Pergola, Attimi and Café Les Paillotes, he secured the estate’s 2024 Michelin star with an elegant, low-impact cuisine centred on kitchen-garden produce and short supply chains.
A graduate of the IPSAR “L. De’ Medici,” Nunziata joined Heinz Beck’s brigades in 2006: first a commis at La Pergola *** (Rome), then sous-chef and finally chef exécutif for the Attimi concepts (Rome Fiumicino & Milan CityLife) and Café Les Paillotes (Pescara). The experience instilled technical rigour, nutritional awareness and meticulous plating.
In 2021 Beck recommended him to the Ulfane family as head of the fine-dining restaurant at the medieval Castello di Fighine. Nunziata now leads a young team (20 covers; maître-sommelier Marta Baldelli) and cultivates a 1-hectare organic kitchen-garden that supplies herbs and vegetables for the menu.
Signature dishes include Marinated foie gras with figs & peanut-butter, Amberjack, celeriac & plankton, and Chianina beef cappelletti, 30-month Parmesan & onion broth. His approach blends a short Tuscan supply chain, French technique and Campanian memories (Neapolitan genovese, confit cherry tomatoes).
In November 2023 the Michelin Guide 2024 reconfirmed the property’s star—lost years earlier—crediting Nunziata’s “maturity and precision.” Critics such as Reporter Gourmet and Il Forchettiere rank him among Tuscany’s most promising fine-dining talents.
