Fabio Pesticcio leads the kitchen of Il Papavero in Eboli, the first Michelin-starred restaurant in the Piana del Sele. His approach is centered on ingredient quality, balance, and an idea of culinary harmony built on clarity and respect.
He stepped into the kitchen of Il Papavero at sixteen, while still studying at the Hospitality School in Contursi. He does not come from a family of restaurateurs, yet he credits his mother’s cooking and the memorable lunches prepared by his uncle—an Italian chef working in Rome—as the first seeds of a passion that would eventually guide his professional life. Those early lessons stayed with him.
In 2005 he joined Il Papavero in a more structured way. The restaurant had been open for just over two years, but the town was already speaking about it with admiration. In a territory where this type of dining was still rarely discussed, the team worked as quiet trailblazers. Six years later, in 2011, Il Papavero earned its first Michelin star, the first ever awarded in the Piana del Sele. From that moment, Pesticcio has led the brigade with a deep sense of responsibility and collective purpose.
His idea of cooking starts with the ingredient—not with technique. The value of a dish, he believes, comes from the best raw material he can find, something that should never be suppressed or disguised but allowed to shine in its own right. His mission is not to overcomplicate; it is to reveal. His cooking aims for a kind of musical harmony: every element in its place, a balance that feels natural and measured.
His training outside Eboli includes a formative period at La Torre del Saracino with Gennaro Esposito, a close friend of the Papavero patron Maurizio and a chef whose way of honoring ingredients left a lasting mark. He then moved to Udine to work with Emanuele Scarello, where he found a cohesive team, a high professional standard, and an immediate sense of belonging. With the brigades of these two chefs, Pesticcio took part in significant events such as the Tartufo d’Oro Dinner in Istria, the Italian Republic Day celebration at the Italian Consulate in Casablanca, and a special dinner at the Alma Mater Studiorum in Bologna. Each experience clarified his vision.
Today he surrounds himself with a young brigade that fully embraces his philosophy. Valentino, his sous-chef, was once his classmate; Omar has been with the team for seven years; and Benedetta Somma, the pastry chef, shares with him a long-standing personal connection and the same culinary sensibility. They are not mere executors—they are guardians of a shared idea of cooking.
Pesticcio defines himself as a chef deeply rooted in his territory yet shaped by what he has learned elsewhere. His goal is clear: transforming Eboli from a place people simply pass through into a conscious gastronomic destination, chosen by those who value a cuisine built on purity rather than complication.
