Chef Donata Rizzo
Hi everyone, I’d like to introduce myself, I’m Donata the chef at Le Cinque Vele, although, actually, I prefer to call myself the cook of Le Cinque Vele, because my cooking goes through the traditions, customs and scent of my childhood that I try to convey in my preparations and in the stories about my land that I love to tell to people from afar.
After various professional experiences in different restaurants in Milan, I decided to return to Salento, my land, my home, where I had the opportunity to meet Alessandro and his family who welcomed me to their company.
I have been working at Le Cinque Vele for about three years and I am really excited about it, because I feel at home here, free to express my creativity, always respecting tradition
Alessandro and his family put so much enthusiasm and feeling into everything they do in their company, and I feel inside this fervor of theirs that is transmitted to me every day and makes me feel the soul of a strongly cohesive group… with their way of doing things, they transmit warmth, familiarity, respect… ancient values that can hardly be found in our days, where everything is so hectic, so much so that there is no more time and space for each other…
Here we breathe the true air of Salento, in every sense, made up of attention and care for people before anything else, made up of love and passion and the scents of a past that comes alive again and makes us excited even when we are intent on doing our work.
We all work together toward one common growth project, we are a team whose main goal is to cherish our traditions and history and to spread it to those who have the pleasure of experiencing it and excitement every day with us.
That’s the beauty of working here at Le Cinque Vele.
