Chef Donata Rizzo

Hello everyone, I introduce myself, I am Donata the chef of Le Cinque Vele, even if, to tell the truth, I prefer to call myself the cook of Le Cinque Vele, because my cuisine crosses the traditions, customs and scent of my childhood that I seek to convey in my preparations and stories about my land that I love to tell people who come from afar.

After various professional experiences in various 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 into their company. I’ve been working at Le Cinque Vele for about three years and I’m really enthusiastic about it, because here I feel at home, free to express my creativity, always respecting traditions. Alessandro and his family put a lot of enthusiasm and feeling into everything they do in their company and I feel inside their fervor that is transmitted to me every day and makes me feel like the soul of a strongly cohesive group … with their way of doing, they transmit warmth, familiarity, respect … ancient values that can hardly be found in our days, where everything is so frenetic, so much so that we no longer have time and space for each other …

Here you can breathe the true Salento air, in every sense, made of attention and care for people before anything else, made of love and passion and the scents of a past that comes back alive and that excites us even when we are intent on doing our job. We all work together towards a single project of common growth, we are a team whose main objective is to