“The Best Italian Breakfast”: Italy’s Morning Realm Told Through Twelve Signature Breakfasts

There is an Italy that wakes up slowly, wrapped in the aroma of melting butter, of bread still holding the oven’s warmth, of fragrant fresh fruit. It is a lesser-told side of Italy: that of breakfast—a daily ritual, an intimate gesture that speaks to hospitality more than any gala dinner ever could. It is precisely to restore narrative dignity to this often-overlooked moment that The Best Italian Breakfast – in hotels and charming houses was born. Released by Maretti Editore, this elegant editorial project was authored by Lucrezia Margotti and Stefania Petruzzelli, featuring a foreword by Massimo Bottura and an introduction by Luigi Cremona.

Lucrezia Margotti, a Roman with a background in marketing and communications for gastronomy and luxury hospitality, and Stefania Petruzzelli, an author and hospitality storyteller whose career weaves together tourism, cultural entrepreneurship, and regional narrative, shared a research journey into the symbolic value of this morning ritual and its ability to tell the story of places, people, and traditions. Their cultured, poetic writing builds a language that blends aesthetics, anthropology, and travel journalism.

Cremona, one of the most authoritative Italian food critics, notes how breakfast in the national imagination long remained a rushed habit—a quick espresso downed while standing, a few crumbs gathered on the run—despite gastronomic culture and medical science recognizing its fundamental role. Yet, a few memories from his travels suffice to remind us that Italy, when it chooses to, can transform dawn into a small miracle: take Enzo De Prà’s bread fried in butter and honey, or Peppino Tinari’s still-warm sourdough bread paired with fresh ricotta at Villa Maiella.

The volume gathers twelve interpretations of the Italian morning across as many exceptional hospitality destinations, captured through the refined photographic eye of Lido Vannucchi. The itinerary crosses islands, mountains, art cities, and countrysides, featuring—in order—Casa Maria Luigia (San Damaso - MO), Dalla Gioconda (Gabicce Monte - PU), J.K. Place Capri (Capri - NA), L’Albereta Relais & Châteaux (Erbusco - BS), Mandarin Oriental Milan (Milan - MI), Masseria Moroseta (Ostuni - BR), Palazzo Venart Luxury Hotel (Venice - VE), Petra Segreta Resort (San Pantaleo - SS), Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco (Castiglion del Bosco - SI), Villa Crespi (Orta San Giulio - NO), Villa Rosa - La Casa di Lella (Alberi - NA), and Winkler Hotels (Falzes - BZ).

Each of these establishments interprets breakfast as a statement of local identity and, at the same time, as an act of care, an expression of culinary philosophy, and an ethical choice. This is not a mere menu list, but twelve distinct microcosms: kitchens at dawn, hands kneading dough, produce harvested just yards from the table, and quiet rituals that restore meaning to the first meal of the day.

Margotti and Petruzzelli guide us through vegetable gardens and sea-facing terraces, mountain woods and historic palazzos, offering readers not only the beauty of signature breakfasts, but also their cultural value: breakfast as a lens through which to read a region, as a moment when hospitality expresses itself in its most sincere form.

At the book's inaugural launch, held at Horti 14 Botanical Rooftop in Rome, Chef Di Fabio of Dalla Gioconda in Gabicce Monte shared how he drew from all the surrounding local traditions to create his breakfast menu—a addition made necessary when the restaurant added its first guest rooms two years ago, featuring dishes like cantarella (traditional local pancakes) and crescia sfogliata topped with sublime tomatoes. Meanwhile, Tuscan and French sensibilities blend seamlessly in the morning delights at Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco, as described by pastry chef Michaël Boivin, who insists on importing butter directly from France for all his creations, such as his captivating raspberry tart. At J.K. Place Capri, chef Davide Brustenga personally conducts ongoing research into cheeses and dairy products from small Campanian producers to populate the morning tables at the enchanting hotel.

The true merit of the project lies in this creative tension between aesthetics and mindfulness. The Best Italian Breakfast does not merely celebrate the charm of its selected locations; it shines a light on the work of those who source local ingredients, foster relationships with small-scale producers, and turn an everyday routine into an opportunity for authentic connection with the destination.

The result is a coffee table book that functions as both an art volume and a cultural essay—an invitation to rethink breakfast not as a necessary pause, but as a foundational act of travel and daily life. It is a book that celebrates simplicity by elevating it to a ritual, restoring dignity to the morning through care, identity, and, above all, a sense of belonging.