Pietro Zito

The Path

Chef-patron is the defining role at Antichi Sapori in Montegrosso, Italy, and Pietro Zito has held it as the public face of the restaurant’s cooking. Since 1993, he has worked there as chef in Montegrosso, Puglia, Italy, building a practice shaped by the region’s rhythms and produce rather than by display. The result is a kitchen language that stays close to simple, genuine food, with vegetables and good extra virgin olive oil used as the core of the plate.

The Work Today

At Antichi Sapori, the work stays tied to the relationship between place and plate. The cooking favors restraint, but not thinness: vegetables carry weight, and good extra virgin olive oil gives the food its frame. Pietro Zito’s approach keeps faith with Puglia without turning it into decoration. It is rooted, seasonal, and direct, with the kind of hospitality that comes from knowing exactly what the kitchen is for.

Signature

Pietro's signature dishes include orecchiette with wild rocket and grano arso bruschetta. Orecchiette with wild rocket works in the register of the region itself: sharp, green, and spare in a way that depends on precise handling. Grano arso bruschetta sits in a more rustic southern Italian register, where flavor comes from resourcefulness as much as from abundance. Taken together, they point to a style that is attentive, grounded, and committed to the force of good ingredients.

In Their Words “I understand the need to eat simple, genuine food, made with lots of vegetables and good extra virgin olive oil.” “From then on we never stopped going in that direction.”