Giancarlo Caldesi

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Giancarlo Caldesi

Born	February 9, 1952 (1952-02-09) (age 56) Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy
Occupation	Chef
Children	2

Born in Montepulciano, Tuscany, Giancarlo Caldesi’s interest in food and cooking was inspired by his mother and grandmother, who he helped in the kitchen from an early age. He went on to study hotel management and catering at schools in Perugia and Liguria before moving to the UK in 1974 and to work as a waiter, first at the Hilton, Park Lane, and then at La Fayette and City Circle in the City.

In 1986, Giancarlo was appointed Company Director of Ashleys Restaurant Group, where he employed Ainsley Harriott. Giancarlo left the company in 1988 to open his own restaurant - Edelweiss.

When Ashleys ceased trading in 1989, Giancarlo purchased one of the companies sites and started Portico Restaurant and JC’s Bar in Philpot Lane, EC2. Four years later, following their success, Giancarlo went on to launch Caldesi Restaurant, a neighbourhood and destination restaurant serving simple Italian food in Marylebone Lane.

In 1997, Giancarlo and Katie decided to make Caldesi a purely Tuscan restaurant and began making regular trips to Italy to research the Tuscan cuisine and discover new dishes. In Tuscany Giancarlo rediscovered his roots; the simple and effective peasant cooking of his family. The couple went on to launch Caffe Caldesi a less formal regional Italian restaurant and café not far from the Tuscan restaurant and in 2005, after years of teaching in the restaurant kitchens, they launch La Cucina Caldesi, a state of the art cookery school where they now run cooking courses for all ages and abilities.

In the autumn of 2005 the BBC documented Giancarlo and Katie's efforts to open a Tuscan cookery school.

2007 saw the launch of the Caldesi’s fourth venture, Caldesi in Campagna. Located in the culinary village of Bray, Berkshire focusing on rustic Italian cooking inspired by ancient Italy with a particular emphasis on Liguria, Tuscany and Sicily.