Simone Padoan

The Climb

Apprenticeship at his brother's pizzeria gave Simone Padoan the base of the work: oven rhythm, repetition, and service held to a fixed standard. He stayed there until 1994, when he moved to I Tigli, the place that would define the rest of his career.

Today

Chef is the title attached to Simone Padoan at I Tigli, and it signals a way of working that treats pizza as composition, not just production. The focus lands on pairing, balance, and timing, with the kitchen reading as deliberate rather than improvised. That approach gives the restaurant a clear point of view: the craft is controlled, and the standards stay visible in the plate. Delivery, for Padoan, is only acceptable on terms that protect quality. “I say yes to a well-planned delivery, no to lower quality: people will have a strong desire for high quality experiences.” The line is consistent with the standard he has held since the early part of his career: the method can change, but the level of care cannot. That is the through-line from his first post to the present one.

Signature

Garden pizza is one of Simone's signature dishes, and it fits the broader language of his work: clarity, restraint, and attention to ingredient character. As a signature, it functions as shorthand for how he builds pizza at I Tigli—careful in outline, specific in intent, and rooted in a style that values precision over excess.

In Their Words “I had to choose mass production with low quality or go in the totally opposite direction, raising the quality and changing the way my customers looked at pizza.” “I say yes to a well-planned delivery, no to lower quality: people will have a strong desire for high quality experiences.”

Recognition

The clearest markers attached to Padoan are the role of chef at I Tigli and gourmet pizza as the defining specialty. Those facts point to a career built around position, method, and consistency, with the recognition coming less from display than from staying aligned to a chosen standard over time. That line puts the pressure of the work in plain view. It connects the plate to the people behind it, and shows a kitchen where continuity matters as much as output. For an artisan, that is part of the craft too: holding the structure together so the standard can hold.