There are places that speak softly, and hands that learn to listen to them.
Antonio Scotti, now Executive Chef at the Hotel Excelsior Belvedere in Ischia, is one of those rare souls who know how to transform an entire land into gastronomic language.
The 5-star hotel, located a few steps from Corso Vittorio Colonna and a few minutes from the port and the Aragonese Castle, has preserved and enriched its heritage and identity.
When the Leonessa family took over its management, they decided to continue in the tradition. “We asked ourselves whether to revolutionize everything or preserve the soul of the place,” recalls Alessandro, architect and co-founder of the group, together with his siblings Elena and Emanuele, “but it was our aunt, who was very close to the Micangeli family, who told us to save what makes this hotel unique.” And so it was.
It is precisely in this fairytale setting that the new culinary itinerary of the Belvedere restaurant, created by chef Antonio Scotti, born in Ischia in 1983, comes to life.
“Without good raw ingredients, my cuisine has no reason to exist,” says Scotti. “There are never too many ingredients in my dishes, because I like to bring out all the flavors whose integrity I preserve.”
He doesn’t just cook: he tells the story of the island, interprets it, and defends it. He revisits it with extraordinary emotions.
In addition to the menu, which is excellent, as is the wine list, featuring Cenatiempo and Tommasone wines, there are tasting menus—land and sea—each with three courses and dessert. Rabbit, a great culinary heritage of Ischia, is the focus of a specific menu that tells the story of the island’s identity through Crostino con fegatini (toast with chicken livers), Bucatini al sugo di coniglio (pasta with rabbit sauce), and Coniglio all’ischitana con patate (Ischia-style rabbit with potatoes), celebrating the island’s rural history and aromas such as piperna. But the sea…well…it reigns supreme!
The lobster cappuccino with sweet potato cream and caper powder plays on the balance of aromas and textures, not to mention the creamy risottos scented with summer, the “28 pastai” pasta used by Scotti, risotted in a parsley centrifuge, evoking the local rustic simplicity, which is simply fantastic.
Born in Lacco Ameno, raised amid the scent of the sea and freshly baked bread, Scotti absorbed the essence of a territory that does not give itself away easily from an early age. The island of Ischia demands respect: for its seasons, its tides, its silences. And he, with humility and instinct, has learned to read it like an open book.
(in the photo: chef Scotti with Alessandro Leonessa and the pastry chef)
After gaining experience in prestigious kitchens, he returned home with the realization that true strength lies in one’s origins—the place where it all begins.
Today, in the kitchens of the Excelsior Belvedere, Scotti builds a dialogue between tradition and modernity, between roots and lightness.
Every dish that comes out of his kitchen is the result of a precise vision: to enhance the raw ingredients without distorting them.
“I like every ingredient to retain its integrity,” he likes to say, and this phrase sums up his entire philosophy.
There is the sea in his dishes: alive, clear, sincere.
There is the earth, generous and mineral.
There is the steady hand of someone who knows the technique, and the sensitivity of someone who knows that a dish, to be true, must excite before it amazes.
There are many truly interesting offerings, but even in the simplest creations—a roasted tomato, a cream of island vegetables, a fish cooked with meticulous respect—you can sense the same poetic tension, the same desire for authenticity.
On the panoramic terrace of the Excelsior, as the sun sets behind the Aragonese Castle and the breeze carries the salty smell of the sea, every dish by Antonio Scotti becomes a sensory and emotional experience. But even on cooler evenings, you can breathe in history in the elegant dining room of the Hotel Excelsior. The welcome and atmosphere are the stuff of dreams.
It is not just a dinner, it is a return to the origins, a way of experiencing the island with all the senses.
The aromas blend with the elegant atmosphere, the textures with the lights of the sunset, and you realize that cooking—the real thing—can be a form of meditation.
His presence in the kitchen is calm but decisive. No theatricality, no excess. Just precision, dedication, and a deep sense of belonging.
Every detail is taken care of, every gesture measured. Yet behind that composure lies pure passion: the kind that cannot be seen, but can be felt. And every time he steps out of his creative space to recount the emotion he has created, his eyes shine.
Antonio Scotti is one of those chefs who does not chase trends, but creates languages.
He recounts his Ischia without special effects, but with the power of true feeling.
In each of his preparations, one recognizes the rhythm of the island—slow, sensual, sincere.
It is the cuisine of someone who knows the depth of the sea and the warmth of stone, the light of morning and the silence of evening.
At the Excelsior Belvedere, his signature marks a new chapter: that of hospitality that becomes art, and cuisine that becomes a narrative of the Mediterranean soul.
Sitting at his table is an invitation to abandon haste, to let yourself be carried away by flavors, to rediscover the pleasure of time.
Because Antonio Scotti is not just a great chef.
He is a guardian of taste and memory, an ambassador of authenticity, a man who has chosen to remain faithful to his land even when the world rushes elsewhere.
And perhaps this is his secret: not seeking excellence as a goal, but as an act of daily love.
For the ingredients, for the island, for those who sit at the table.
When you leave the Excelsior after one of his dinners, you are left with more than just the memory of an extraordinary dish.
You are left with the feeling of having touched Ischia — in its scent, in its light, in its truth.
