Restaurant REALE
Castel di Sangro
3 Michelin stars
Niko Romito is Abruzzo’s mountain chef: featuring local products, innovative techniques, and purity of flavours, his cuisine is an extraordinary experience.
Born in Castel di Sangro, he dropped out of university in Rome at the age of 24 and returned to Rivisondoli, where together with his sister Cristina, he took over the Reale restaurant that once belonged to his father.
A self-taught chef, he earned his first Michelin star in 2007, with a second one in 2009. In 2011 he moved to a former 16th century monastery in Castel di Sangro, “Casadonna”, where he opened a professional cooking school, Accademia Niko Romito. Later he opened SPAZIO in Rivisondoli, a restaurant/laboratory run by alumni from his school, then opened branches in Milan and Rome, which became a highly successful model for contemporary dining.
Together with the Bulgari fashion house, he runs the brand’s restaurants in Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai and Milan.
Today, Niko Romito’s Ristorante Reale boasts three Michelin stars and countless national and international accolades. In comparison with this international growth, Romito’s cuisine can appear at first glance as minimalistic, spare and essential.
In fact, it reflects the Chef’s constant and painstaking research into the essence of ingredients and recipes, which helped him rise to the top of the leading international rankings, culminating in his being nominated European Chef of the Year in 2020.
