A front-of-house leader and entrepreneur in Porto Recanati, she steers hospitality at La Rotonda with a marked passion for wine. She cultivates relationships, details, and an ever-evolving wine list, weaving the Adriatic terroir with close dialogue among producers.
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Porto Recanati is her daily horizon: sand, light, and a seaside restaurant where the dining journey is built on attention, timing, and listening. At La Rotonda, Sara Pandolfi has shaped a vision of hospitality born from constant presence in the dining room and a “maternal” approach: caring for guests, every detail, every step of service.
What began as a necessity became an entrepreneurial choice: to stay, reinvent, and consolidate value. In 2007, together with chef German Scalmazzi, the restaurant took a decisive turn: the Pandolfi family’s place became a workshop of contemporary seafood cuisine and warm, sunlit hospitality just steps from the water.
Wine is her chosen language. She meets winemakers, updates the selection, and interlaces small producers with established denominations for a dynamic list, designed around local catch and the seasons of the Adriatic. Her presence in the dining room—often “in blue,” as she likes to say—guides pairings and the rhythm of service.
Today La Rotonda is a home on the sea with sixty years of history, a glazed balcony embracing the horizon, and a well-practiced team. The restaurant is part of the community’s fabric—weddings, family gatherings, business lunches—and guests return for the warmth of the welcome as much as for the kitchen.
Her role is recognized beyond the dining room: trade publications and local networks cite her as the project’s operational soul and clear mind, alongside Scalmazzi, and as a standard-bearer of hospitality in the Marche—luminous, measured, and concrete.
