Enrico Bartolini opens his tenth restaurant in Italy: his cuisine inside a historic palace near Parma

In the realm of fine dining, there's a top player: Enrico Bartolini, collecting addresses and accolades at a brisk pace. With ten restaurants in Italy alone and a handful more worldwide, spanning from the Far East to the United Arab Emirates, boasting a total of 13 Michelin stars, who knows, maybe more to come. As reported by Corriere della Sera, after the opening on the Amalfi Coast at the Furore Grand Hotel last year, Bartolini is indeed gearing up to open his tenth establishment, this time in Emilia Romagna. We're in Noceto, near Parma, in a historic palace turned boutique hotel named Palazzo Utini. With just 15 rooms and a culinary offering that perfectly reflects Bartolini's style, elegance reigns both in the mise en place and the menu, with balance, taste, and personality. Here, the Tuscan chef reaffirms his culinary vision, with long white tablecloths, petit fours, attentive service, and meticulous attention to detail, the kind of dining experience that has captivated him – to use his own words – today as much as when he first discovered it as a young man in Paris, and which he has refined with clarity of style, restaurant after restaurant. This time, he's doing it alongside Alessandro Utini, the owner (as well as President of the Consortium of Parma Ham). They met almost 8 years ago at the presentation of the Michelin Guide at the Teatro Regio in Parma, and in no time, they found a shared vision of creating a destination of great elegance in this town nestled in the heart of the Food Valley.

Palazzo Utini Ristorante

It opens on May 8th with the first rooms and the gourmet restaurant, followed by the completion of the structure with the other rooms and the café and bistro, open from the morning. Roberto Monopoli, a Puglian born in 1984, is in charge of all the culinary aspects, someone some may remember from Villa Grey in Forte dei Marmi. Alongside him, on the other side of the pass, is a long-time collaborator of Bartolini, Alessandra Veronesi, coming from Mudec, who curated the wine cellar: 450 labels and 4,500 bottles; many sparkling wines, both Italian (especially Alta Langa, Oltrepò Pavese, and Franciacorta) and foreign (primarily Champagne with its regions: Côte de Blancs, Montagne de Reims, Marne, Aube), to honor the tradition of the province of Parma, while for the rest of the labels, they explore the great wine regions of Italy, from lesser-known small producers for wine lovers, to large companies, with some excursions beyond the borders, between Burgundy in France and Riesling in Germany. Veronesi isn't the only name from Bartolini's orbit: in fact, Stefano Guidotti, an interior designer who has long collaborated with the chef, is responsible for the restaurant's interiors.

Roberto Monopoli. Photo: Carra Parma

Open from Wednesday to Friday only in the evening and on weekends also for lunch, Palazzo Utini Ristorante fully embodies Bartolini's vision, where "every chef must express their own identity in the territory in which they work." For this reason, the menu is an anthology of the great local products, starting with Parmigiano Reggiano, the star of gnocchi served in a pea soup with horseradish and marjoram, passing through the Po oyster with acidified jus, leek oil, and white asparagus, to create a proposal where vegetables play a central role both in tasting and in the menu (9 courses for €170, 7 courses à la carte for €150; 4 selected dishes for €120, 3 dishes for €100).

Palazzo Utini - Noceto (PR) - via Antonio Gramsci, 6 - 0521 1521001 - www.palazzoutini.com