Iris opened in November 2023 and earned a Michelin star a year later. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength, marking a clear shift in direction: the evolution of Veronese fine dining led by Giacomo Sacchetto.
Photo by Niccolò Brunelli
The History
Palazzo Soave is located in a key area of downtown Verona: the Arena and Piazza Erbe are both very close by. The history of this building—which houses the restaurant Iris, chef Giacomo Sacchetto, and his team—spans several centuries. It began in the last three decades of the 15th century, when the Boldieri family—whose coat of arms, depicting an angel, still adorns the facade—transformed a modest structure into a noble residence. The Malaspina family then took over and expanded the interior in the 16th century. In the 19th century, a new wing was first added, and eventually the property passed to the Bottagisio family. In 2018, ownership transferred to Bruno Soave’s company, marking the start of a lengthy restoration project faithful to the building’s original style. The dominant colors range from Verona red to Roverè gray, from Avesa stone to Lessinia white. Looking up, you can see trefoil arches, small columns, and floral capitals. Inside, the monumental staircase, the frescoes, the cherubs, and the statue of Hercules.
Architect Lucio Merlini, who designed the restoration project, sums it up this way: “Different visions, different eras, architectural styles, the use of materials, and diverse forms of knowledge have shaped this building, created a corner of the city, and captured the past, bringing it into the present.” The idea behind the courtyard is to make the building accessible to the city. Bruno Soave, a Veronese entrepreneur unaccustomed to the spotlight, came to the redevelopment of historic buildings via a business career straight out of a movie: he started as a delivery boy for a German multinational logistics company in Verona, rose through the ranks to become its general manager, and, in 1977, took over the company. In 2018, with 3,000 employees and 400 million euros in revenue, he decided to sell the company to devote himself full-time to his true passion: real estate investment and the restoration of historic buildings: “Restoring historic buildings that have been left to their own devices and neglected for over 20 years—in Peschiera as well as in Verona—and returning them to the community is something that brings me sincere joy; it is an honor to be able to leave my mark on these cities.” The future of Palazzo Soave therefore includes a hotel with thirty suites. Talise, a wonderful 400-square-meter spa, is already open, featuring Roman artifacts displayed alongside a 10-by-4-meter pool and treatment rooms.
The Restaurant and the Chef
The Iris experience begins in the impressive wine cellar, amid exposed brick walls and rows of bottles. Once the aperitif ritual is complete, guests head upstairs to admire the frescoes, the Venetian terrazzo floors, and the beautiful contemporary chandeliers. The open kitchen somehow takes the edge off—without diminishing it—the opulent elegance of the surroundings. Giacomo Sacchetto, born in 1985, hails from the Veronese lowlands. He began his career in Verona, then worked at Toto’s with Paolo Simioni and at the Foliage at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London. Upon returning to Italy, he joined Norbert Niederkofler at St. Hubertus, where he took on every challenge. He then met Giancarlo Perbellini in Isola Rizza and later returned to the mountains as a sous chef. His career also took him to Locanda Margon with Alfio Ghezzi, Le Calandre, and Berton in Milan. He spentfour years as sous chef at Casa Perbellini and openedLa Cru, a restaurant in Valpantena that earned a Michelin star in 2020. Unfortunately, the restaurant closed for reasons beyond his control, leaving him with a somewhat bitter taste in his mouth and forcing him to reevaluate his career path.
His time in Soave, however, was pivotal: Iris opened in November 2023 and earned a Michelin star a year later. Since then, it’s been a steady rise, with a clear shift in momentum. Giacomo tells us: “Compared to the beginning, there’s probably a bit more maturity and also a bit more confidence in my abilities—that’s definitely something that’s changed. And then, in my opinion, it’s also the consolidation of the team I work with.” When we ask him how he managed to bring about this evolution, he responds with great practicality: “What I’m doing is removing what was perhaps superfluous from the dishes and trying to provide motivation, trying to foster positivity, trying to create a slightly more cheerful atmosphere for the front-of-house staff, and also trying to give them more freedom.” In the kitchen, on the other hand: “Don’t combine too many flavors; work with fewer ingredients and delve a little deeper into the flavor.” The flavor thus becomes more recognizable and personal. The acidic and bitter notes remain, as they are part of his sensibility: “I don’t want a dish that’s flat in flavor.”
The connection to Verona and the surrounding area is forged through local producers: vegetables, eggs, and flour from the Trètener Farm in Sant’Andrea, with which the chef is developing a garden dedicated to the restaurant; free-range chickens from the Pollo Ruspante Farm in San Giorgio in Salici; red meat from the Sartori butcher shop in Verona; and Black Angus beef from MrBeefy in Mozzecane; although Sacchetto speaks cautiously about “the territory,” a term that has been overused.
The Dishes
We asked the chef to tell us about a dish that epitomizes this approach, and he chose that little masterpiece of concentrated flavors known as “solo sedano”—featuring celeriac milk and bay leaves, deep-fried and sous-vide-cooked with Muscat vinegar, a raw extract that was later reduced, and a mille-feuille coated in a tempura batter made from the same vegetable. The course concludes with toasted peels and a preparation made from the juicer’s leftovers: “We turned it into bottarga. It’s a dish we’ve spent a lot, a lot, a lot of time perfecting.” Another important course is the gnocco with carrot and green pepper, made with a classic dough and stuffed with rabbit. Once boiled, it is glazed with a carrot juice reduction; the green pepper is in gel form, and the parsley oil adds a herbaceous note. The little fat available from the rabbit is put to use: “We made a sort of porchetta using the rabbit’s pancetta”.
Grilled lobster is also a standout dish. It’s served in two courses: first with corn and onion jam, followed by the lobster meat cooked on the barbecue. It’s paired with lettuce, elderberries, and scallions. These dishes are featured on the two menus that have been part of Iris’s offerings since it opened, “Raccontami” and “Adriatico e dintorni,” the first dedicated to the traditions of Verona and the Veneto region, the second to the sea: “The tasting menus begin with a fresh dish, slightly tart but not too much, so as not to overwhelm the palate. I always include a dish to savor, such as (delicious, ed.) Turanian spaghetti with mantis shrimp, asparagus, and licorice, taking care to maintain an overall lightness from appetizer to dessert.”
Among the other dishes on the “Raccontami” menu is the roasted potato with roasted vegetable sauce made from winter vegetable scraps, pumpkin, and black truffle. At “Adriatico e dintorni,” the excellent stuffed croaker, served with a fish soup and black sesame, and—before dessert—the “Citrus Symphony,” featuring grapefruit mousse, lime jelly, and clementine sorbet. Equally noteworthy is the Bardolino Chiaretto rice with sturgeon, red turnip, and pink turnip. The menu is constantly evolving: “A new one will be released in October; we’ll continue along the same lines, but we’ll also incorporate more locally sourced ingredients—I’m thinking, for example, of game.”
The Hospitality and Philosophy
In the dining room, we find Daniele Gagliardi, born in 1995, with experience at Villa Cordevigo, Oseleta, and Famiglia Rana. Andrea Puliga, on the other hand, is the wine expert: born in 1985, with a background in science and a career in banking, he worked at Lido 84 alongside Emanuele Menghini and took over management of the wine cellar there before moving here in 2023 to create a wine list featuring over eight hundred unique labels. When it comes to success, Sacchetto looks beyond mere accolades: “Beyond stars and awards, you recognize it by a restaurant that’s thriving, by staff who stick around—which means there’s an ownership team behind the scenes that invests and believes in this restaurant; and above all, by guests who keep coming back: that’s absolutely crucial these days.”
And when it comes to the crisis in fine dining, he has a clear perspective: “In my opinion, it always depends on what kind of restaurant you are and what you offer. There are many talented chefs, but they serve dishes that may not suit people’s tastes. Sometimes you go too far beyond what the guest who comes to your restaurant actually wants.” He adds: “As for fine dining being in crisis—we don’t see that right now, and I hope it stays that way”. At Iris, the open kitchen allows him to observe the diners’ reactions: “In my opinion, people want high-quality ingredients, clean, recognizable flavors, without a lot of fluff on the plate.” When we ask him what else the change requires beyond practicality and less rigid service, he replies: “In my opinion, something more is not letting the guest down. You have to give something authentic to whoever is sitting across from you: if you serve lobster, it has to be the best you can find on the market; if it’s blue lobster, it has to be that—not Canadian lobster; if you offer fish, as we do with our ‘Adriatic and Surrounding Areas’ menu, it has to be wild-caught Italian fish—not farmed.”
Loyalty starts with what you promise. If you specify an ingredient, that’s what has to end up on the plate: “You have to understand this: I could never make a tomato-based dish given my current situation here on Via Leoni in Verona, because I don’t have enough of the ingredients I’d want to be able to include it on the menu and create a dish of that kind.” Consistency, beauty, and flavor. That’s why Iris is such a wonderful place to be.
Iris Restaurant at Palazzo Soave
Via Leoni 10 – 37122 Verona
info@irisristorante.it
