The new summer menu at Luca's restaurant is a journey through carefully selected ingredients and bold combinations, ready to combine international flavors with the identity of the territory. La Gemma renews its gastronomic offering created by the great chef Paulo Airaudo, who has been consulting for the restaurant for two years.
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In the rhythmic flow of the seasons, every summer reveals its soul through lights, scents, and flavors that intertwine, like a story to be savored slowly. And it is precisely this poetry of taste that you can breathe at Luca's Restaurant, Paulo Airaudo's first restaurant in Italy. The refined fine dining space inside the boutique hotel La Gemma presents the new summer menu from the multi-starred chef, who transforms every dish into a narrative of technique and inventiveness.
In the height of summer, Luca's is an oasis of balance and freshness, a restaurant that combines contemporary gastronomic research with rigorous respect for raw ingredients. Here, taste becomes a universal and delicate language, an invitation to discover new harmonies in dishes that discreetly reveal the richness of the season. Paulo Airaudo, who has been in Florence for two years—his first consulting role in Italy for the multi-starred chef—leads the kitchen with a philosophy that prioritizes simplicity and the enhancement of excellent ingredients. His signature style is recognizable without ever being pretentious: a borderline cuisine, elegant and vibrant, which renews itself with the seasons and maintains a deep connection with the territory.
The restaurant's new summer menu is a journey through carefully selected ingredients and bold combinations, such as Scampo (scampi) accompanied by a Champagne sauce, enriched with foie gras, or Crudo di ricciola (amberjack crudo), intertwined with the sweetness of Chioggia radish and the freshness of tomato water, enhanced by a spicy touch of ume kosho. After all, “my cuisine is a fusion of my Italian roots with the strong influence of Japanese gastronomy,” explains the chef. “I am very inspired by its techniques and ingredients, trying to create dishes that combine product, method, and well-defined flavors. The goal is to offer something unique, but always balanced between classicism and modernity.”
Airaudo's touch can also be perceived in the most traditional dishes, revisited in a modern key: Ravioli del plin with wild garlic and goat cheese, drizzled with a light emulsion of pimentón de la vera, or Dentice (red snapper), which dialogues with bagna cauda, finger lime, and agretti, a perfect synthesis of sea and land in subtle harmony.
For those who want to go further, Luca's also offers the possibility of enriching the tasting menu with two special dishes that embody the chef's creative flair: Tagliolini with goat's butter, anchovies, Sorrento lemon and Oscietra caviar, a perfect balance between flavor and freshness; and the prized Wagyu, accompanied by its rich sauce, onion, black garlic, and cardoncelli mushrooms, a tribute to the raw ingredients and impeccable technique. The menu takes shape in a continuous dialogue with the season and with the guests, in which each course offers new discoveries.
Aperitifs according to La Gemma: San Sebastián pintxos meet Florence
The gastronomic experience, as we have already told you here, also extends to the aperitif, a moment of socializing and lightheartedness that becomes a small ritual at La Gemma Café. Pintxos (typical Basque appetizers reinterpreted with Airaudo's flair, inspired by his newly starred restaurant Ibai in San Sebastián) are the absolute stars: from Artichoke in batter with citrus mayonnaise and Colonnata lard to tender Veal heart sweetbread with black garlic and parsnip foam, not to mention Pan tomate with jamón ibérico de bellota and Oyster in batter with pico de gallo and oyster emulsion.
This welcoming space, with its cozy atmosphere overlooking the hotel's inner courtyard, offers an intimate experience, while the outdoor area on Via dei Cavalieri provides a peaceful corner where you can enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city with a glass in hand, immersed in a minimalist, contemporary design.
The Gemma Collection: a story of family, passion, and vision
Behind this project lies the power of a family dream born from the foresight of the Cecchi brothers, who were able to transform an idea into an innovative model of Italian luxury hospitality. The Gemma Collection is much more than a hotel group: it is a vocation for hospitality, a lifestyle that is evident in every detail, from the handcrafted Tuscan furnishings to the attention paid to guests. As Massimiliano Cecchi explains, “At the heart of the Gemma Collection is the authentic Italian entrepreneurial spirit: creative, daring, and deeply connected to the art of living well.” This is reflected in the unique way we interpret success, with passion and the natural elegance for which we are known around the world.
Luca's, named after the founder of the Cecchi family, embodies this spirit of conviviality and authenticity: a place where the table becomes a stage for encounters, exchanges, and emotions, combining family tradition and fine cuisine. But La Gemma Collection does not stop there: by 2030, it plans to open new properties in Italy, each with a color scheme and values inspired by members of the family, ready to showcase a piece of contemporary Italian lifestyle with a cosmopolitan outlook that is firmly rooted in its origins. This new frontier in luxury hospitality aims to transform every stay into an eclectic experience that combines elegance, quality, and identity.
