In Milan, the awards ceremony for newly opened restaurants recommended by top chefs and voted for by the public took place. The People's Choice Award went to Adelaide! Bottega Bar in Turin, which beat Cecchini in Florence and Mezzena in Palermo by a narrow margin, while the Critics' Choice Award went to Abba in Milan.
All in one exclamation mark. That of Adelaide!, the Turin restaurant that was awarded in Milan as the novelty of the year in the seventh edition of TheFork Awards with Mastercard, the event that every year captures the freshest and most curious side of Italian catering. Chef Giuseppe Tarantino's restaurant won over the public with its ability to interpret Italian gastronomic tradition with affection and a charming touch. Adelaide is, in fact, an imaginary lady, a sort of grandmother par excellence for everyone and for all, who offers comforting cuisine but pays great attention to local products and artisans.
Tarantino, nominated by chef Ugo Alciati, won the People's Choice Award, receiving the highest popular vote among the three finalists, each representing a major Italian region, and narrowly beating Cecchini in Città, the restaurant opened in Florence by the great Tuscan butcher, who took to the stage with chef Mariano Pastega, nominated by Riccardo Monco, and delighted and slightly scandalized the audience with a little show à la Benigni; and Mezzena di Palermo, the restaurant of chef Davide Autovino, nominated by Tony Lo Coco, which recounts a contemporary Sicilian tradition with a strong focus on meat.
The Fork Awards with Mastercard has been organized for seven years by Italy's leading restaurant booking and management platform, drawing on the expertise of Identità Golose. It aims to highlight and promote the best new Italian restaurant openings or new management teams, as recommended by eighty leading chefs who are happy to act as mentors to promising young talent, offering their vision, affection, and, of course, a touch of local pride. And this year, the picture painted by the suggestions and awards tells of a restaurant industry that is willingly curling up in a comfort zone far from certain avant-garde postures, but attentive to raw materials and ethical and sustainable supply chains.
New for the 2025 edition was the Mastercard Impact Award, which the event's new title sponsor dedicated to restaurants that have a positive impact in three key areas: local communities, tourism, and young talent. The award went to Tribarakkio in Catanzaro, a restaurant recommended by Nino Rossi, where chef Mariarita Bruno promotes sustainable and inclusive dining, transforming the area into a school of life and craft. “Catering is not just hospitality, but cultural innovation and shared identity,” said Luca Corti, Country Manager of Mastercard Italia, explaining the philosophy behind the new award.
Other special prizes went to some very interesting restaurants. The Challenge Award offered by Barilla went to Sandì in Milan, run by Laura Santosuosso, a chef who made the courageous decision to open only for lunch (and dinner only on Fridays) and who, for this choice that makes life easier for her team—as well as for her pleasant home-style cuisine—earned the esteem and nomination of Davide Marzullo, Davide Oldani, Chiara Pavan, and Francesco Brutto: recognition for her courage in changing course in the kitchen. The Innovation Award, sponsored by Electrolux Professional, was awarded to the Japanese-Florentine restaurant Ambar, run by chef Andrea Magnelli, nominated by Claudio Mengoni for his ability to combine technique and lightness.
In terms of research, the efforts of another Florentine restaurant, La Gamella - Collegio alle Querce di Firenze, were recognized, with chef Nicola Zamperetti convincing Vito Mollica to nominate it for its cuisine that combines rigor and curiosity. The Creators' Choice Award, decided by a jury of content creators from RealBites, a food went to Ippolito di Fiumicino, where Andrea Alberghetti and Marco Fedeli reinvent seafood cuisine with irony and moderation. The restaurant was nominated by a group of great chefs, from Anthony Genovese to Domenico Stile, from Pier Daniele Seu to Daniele Usai. Finally, the Media Choice Award, assigned by a jury composed of food critics from some of the most important Italian newspapers, went to Abba in Milan, a beautiful space created from a renovated paint factory where Fabio Abbattista offers respectful and elegant cuisine. One of the emerging venues on the Milanese gastronomic scene, it has encouraged great chefs such as Andrea Aprea, Antonio Guida, brothers Mario and Remo Capitaneo, Matteo Metullio, Davide De Prà, Michele Lazzarini, and Paolo Griffa to cheer him on.
The evening, held at Palazzo Mezzanotte in Piazza Affari – transformed for one evening into Piazza Affari di Gola – was presented by Alessia Ventura and pleasantly “disrupted” by Gerry Scotti, who also served thirsty guests wines from his own line of bottles produced by Cantine Giorgi, which accompanied the dishes of the dinner prepared by the Cerea brothers of Da Vittorio in Brusaporto and Fabrizio Mellino of Quattro Passi in Nerano. It was a fitting occasion to launch another heartfelt appeal to support the nomination of Italian cuisine as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which will be decided in December in Paris. Maddalena Fossati, editor-in-chief of La Cucina Italiana magazine, did so from the stage, inviting those present to join in the acclamation. Awards aside, Italian gastronomy appears, thanks in part to the snapshot provided by events such as TheFork Awards with Mastercard, to be in good health overall, seeking new perspectives and new formats and eager to use new technologies, but with its feet firmly planted in ancient roots. A collective portrait of a people with forks.
