i. Biography
Since 2021, Simone Caponnetto has been Executive Chef at Locale Firenze in Florence, a role that concentrates a career built across disciplined, high-pressure kitchens. Born in Florence in 1990, he works from a compact premise: modern cooking should let the land register clearly, without decoration for its own sake. The result is a style grounded in restraint, precision, and attention to place.
The Path
A stage at The Waterside Inn established the kind of kitchen discipline that can shape the rest of a career: exacting, methodical, and focused on the mechanics of fine dining. Simone Caponnetto then moved through a sequence of roles that widened his technical range and his frame of reference, first as chef at Narisawa in Tokyo, then as chef at Mugaritz in Basque Country, and later as chef at La Pergola in Rome. Each kitchen added a different register to a professional profile built through movement, comparison, and sustained learning across culinary cultures. In 2019, Simone Caponnetto joined Il Nugolo in Florence, bringing that accumulated experience back to the city where he was born. The return read less as a reset than as a consolidation: the work had been tested elsewhere and could now be applied with greater focus at home. Since 2021, that focus has been expressed most clearly at Locale Firenze, where his role as Executive Chef places Florence itself inside the work rather than beside it.
The Work Today
He is Executive Chef at Locale Firenze in Florence. The title is straightforward; the expectation behind it is not. It points to a kitchen where prior experience is translated into method, and where the authority of someone who has worked across major dining rooms in Europe and Asia is used to keep the cooking clear and grounded. At Locale Firenze, that range reads as control, not display.
In Their Words “Modernity means letting the land speak without special effects.” The line describes the center of Caponnetto’s cooking: a modern approach that avoids excess and gives ingredients room to carry the message. It is a compact statement of method, and it matches the rest of his career, which has moved through different kitchens without losing its emphasis on clarity.
Acclaim
The key recognition is Caponnetto’s role as Executive Chef at Locale Firenze. In a field where movement is common, that position marks the point where stage work, international kitchens, and a return to Florence converge into one clear professional statement.
Profile updated August 2026
FAQ
Asked of Simone
What is Simone Caponnetto's current role?
As of 2026, Simone Caponnetto is Executive Chef.
Where did Simone Caponnetto work before?
Simone Caponnetto's earlier career included The Waterside Inn, Narisawa, and Mugaritz.
