Davide Ruotolo

Coming Up

Training at Da Gennaro dal 1956 and a Diploma in Scienze Umane gave Davide Ruotolo a working base in discipline and language before he entered pizza service. Those early steps matter in the kitchen: they point to a method built on attention, structure, and repetition. He moved from study into service as a pizza chef at Farinella in Italy, then took a stage at Palazzo Petrucci in Naples, Italy, where the work brought him closer to one of the names that would later define his career. Since 2017, Davide Ruotolo has been Executive Chef of Palazzo Petrucci Pizzeria. The role marks a progression in responsibility, but the craft remains the same: carrying technical training into a contemporary setting without breaking from the tradition that formed it.

Where They Are Now

Those strands of formation come together in the kitchen as method rather than biography. In Davide Ruotolo’s work, the discipline from training, the course with Cristiano, and the hands-on pizza-chef experience before leadership all resolve into a style that is alert, exacting, and closely aligned with the Neapolitan canon. Neapolitan pizza is his specialty, and the interest lies in how he works within its limits while allowing room for variation. Pizza Nerano, with zucchini cream and Provolone del Monaco, shows that approach clearly: a southern pairing set inside the familiar structure of the pie, balanced rather than overloaded. The result is less about decoration than about keeping base, topping, and heritage in steady relation. In 2024, at the pizzeria, he created Davide Ruotolo 2.0, a contemporary focaccia-style pizza with oregano, Parmigiano Reggiano, stracciata di bufala, lemon zest, and semi-dry cherry tomatoes. The dish keeps the same underlying grammar of dough and balance, but shifts the register toward brightness and directness. The name reads as continuity, not departure: the same craft language, adjusted and pushed forward.

Signature

Davide Ruotolo focuses on Neapolitan pizza.

In Their Words “Instead of going to university as my father wanted, I took a course with Fabio Cristiano at Da Gennaro dal 1956 to learn the trade.” “It is a long love story with Palazzo Petrucci, a place where I found myself and feel good.”