Isabella Poti was born in Rome in 1995 and is one of Italy’s preeminent female chefs. Her parents – her father is Italian and her mother is Polish—relocated the family to Lecce when Isabella was still a baby.
Growing up surrounded by nature and hyper-local ingredients, such as daily fresh milk from a neighbour’s cow herd and wild strawberries from her grandmother’s garden, her culinary journey was marked by an early passion for cooking.
She studied at the Istituto Alberghiero Columella in Lecce, and after graduation in 2013, her ambition drew her to London and the Michelin kitchen of Chef Claude Bosi at the 2-starred Hibiscus in Mayfair. In the year that she spent there, she reconnected with a chef colleague and friend from her home town in Lecce, Floriano Pelligrino. The pair would soon become partners in business as well as in life.
The following year, her culinary prowess led her to Spain, Denmark, and France, where her skills were honed under renowned chefs Paco Torreblanca (3 months 2015), Martín Berasategui (6 months 2015 -2016), Rasmus Kofoed (1 month 2016), and Mauro Colagreco (1 month 2016).
In 2016, she returned to Lecce and joined Floriano to help direct his new restaurant, BROS’.
As well as the awards the restaurant has earned under her and Floriano’s stewardship, her exceptional creativity, foresight, and craft have earned her recognition in her own right.
She was awarded Best Emerging Chef of the South 2016 on Luigi Cremona’s Emerging Chef List. She was included on Forbes’ 30-Under-30 List 2017 and gained the Terra Moretti Fattore Donna Award 2019. Her television appearances include as a guest judge on MasterChef Italia in 2018 and the RAI 2 series Il Ristorante degli Chef and Quelli che il calcio in 2019.
Isabella Potì has not only ascended to industry recognition but has also become a prominent figure in the realms of social media and renowned collaborations. To this effect, her influence extends to brands such as Nike, Giorgio Armani, Moose Knuckles, Julius, Golden Point, Piaget, Lozza Occhiali, Zacapa, Peroni, Amazon, Carte D’Or, American Express, Land Rover, and Maserati.
Now co-owner of Michelin-starred BROS’ in Lecce, Roots Trattoria in Scorrano, and the marketing agency Pellegrino Brothers, Isabella is not only an acclaimed chef and culinary trailblazer but also a social media maven and sought-after collaborator in the world of
high-profile brands.