Matteo Metullio was born in Trieste on March 3, 1989. By the age of twelve he already knew he would pursue a career in cooking, and he enrolled at the I.P.S.S.A.R. hospitality institute in Falcade.
During summer breaks he worked at various hotels and restaurants to acquire experience. At the Codole restaurant in Canale d’Agordo, under the tutelage of Chef Oscar Tibolla, who was more of a mentor than a teacher to him, he met Davide De Pra.
He was subsequently hired by Norbert Niederkofler in Alta Badia, where he worked for four years, with a brief summer stint at La Speranzina in Sirmione. As 2012 gave way to 2013 Matteo arrived at La Siriola, the restaurant of the Hotel Ciasa Salares, and in spring took the helm of the Michelin-starred kitchen and contacted Davide De Pra as a partner, thus beginning their journey together.
The Michelin Guide confirmed the star in 2013, making Metullio the youngest starred chef in Italy, and the national representative for Chef next Generation 2013 in Berlin. Together with Davide De Pra, he won the Best Emerging Chef in the North and Best Emerging Chef in Italy awards in Rome in 2014. During the fall of the same year he organized a number of exclusive dinners at Enoteca Italiana in Bangkok and at several Intercontinental Hotels in Vietnam.
In 2015 he represented Trentino-Alto Adige as a chef in Amsterdam and Brussels, and in 2016 he was named Best Emerging Chef by Gambero Rosso.
The year 2017 saw La Siriola take centre stage: it was awarded a score of 92 and three forks by the Gambero Rosso Guide, a score of 17 by the Gault et Millau guide, and finally earned a second star from the Michelin Guide.
Matteo and Davide have shared numerous experiences since 2013, both in Italy and abroad, and have learned to appreciate the unique strengths that arise from their working together. This translated into a desire to launch a new shared project, and during the 2017 Bracolana regatta they met Alex Benvenuti, taking the first step towards what would become Harry’s Trieste. The entrepreneur proposed that they run the restaurant side of the Grand Hotel Duchi d’Aosta.
They embarked on this new adventure as early as spring 2018, with two restaurants and two different styles of cuisine and service that complement one another: Harry’s Piccolo Restaurant and Harry’s Bistrò. One of the cornerstones of their cooking philosophy is to constantly seek out and highlight the best ingredients regardless of their origin. Together they ran Harry’s food and wine offer. In October 2018 Harry’s Pasticceria opened its doors, and in November of that year Harry’s Piccolo was awarded a star in the 2019 Michelin Guide. In August 2020 Harry’s and Grand Hotel Duchi d’Aosta were purchased by an entrepreneur from Veneto, Alfredo Rubino, who fell in love with the project and with Piazza Unità d’Italia.
His investments resulted in Harry’s Piccolo being awarded a second Michelin star in November 2020, making it the first-ever two-star restaurant in Trieste; the second star was confirmed in 2022 as well.
In September 2021 the Grand Hotel Duchi D'Aosta, home to Harry's Piccolo & Bistrò, re-opened after a 10-month renovation as a five-star boutique hotel, and won the 50 Top Italy Luxury 2022 award for the Best in Gourmet Hospitality in Italy.
Metullio and De Pra won yet more prestigious awards in March 2022 with the Best Chef award from the 2022 Identità Golose guide and in April 2022 with four chef’s hats from the L'Espresso guide I Ristoranti e i Vini d’Italia 2022, which also gave the Pastry Chef of the Year award to Harry’s Piccolo’s Kevin Fejzullai.
