There are awards that go beyond celebrating a professional career, telling a story of passion, sensitivity, and dedication. The award given to Clizia Zuin, Head Sommelier and Wine Buyer at Atto di Vito Mollica — the refined Michelin-starred restaurant in the heart of Palazzo Portinari Salviati in Florence, part of the Krug Ambassade — is one such award.
Gambero Rosso named her Sommelier of the Year 2025, rewarding a woman who has transformed sommelierism into an art that balances technical expertise and human grace.
“Receiving this award is a great honor and an incentive to continue, with passion, a job that for me means love, knowledge, and listening,” says Clizia.
“Talking about wine means giving a voice to those who create it, transforming their commitment into emotion. It is an act of balance between technique and humanity.”
Since 2022, Clizia has been at the helm of the Atto winery, creating a wine selection that bears her signature: elegant, intriguing, and deeply authentic. In just a few years, she has expanded the selection from 300 to over 900 labels, winning Wine Spectator‘s Best of Award of Excellence for two consecutive years.
Each bottle on her wine list is not just a name, but a fragment of history, a piece of a journey that starts in Tuscany and touches France, reaching distant lands, united by an invisible thread of emotion and truth.
Born in Veneto, Florentine by adoption, class of 1980, Clizia represents the new generation of sommeliers: cosmopolitan, daring, but with deep roots.
Her training is a blend of experiences and visions—from Borgo San Jacopo to the APICIUS International School of Hospitality, where she taught Wine Appreciation and Wines of the World, to collaborations with the Italian Wine Academy and New York University Florence.
In May 2025, she achieved an important milestone with the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines in London, the highest academic recognition in the sector.
Her career is studded with awards that tell the story of her evolution:
Dame Chevalier of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne (2022), Lamolese DOCG (2024), Best Female Sommelier in Italy (2019), and the Pegaso d’Oro of the Region of Tuscany.
All signs of a talent that is not limited to knowing wine, but interprets it as a cultural language and a gesture of human relationship.
In the elegant setting of Palazzo Portinari Salviati, “Atto di Vito Mollica” becomes the natural stage for this sensitivity: a place where every dish and every glass of wine dialogue in harmony.
Here, Clizia Zuin transforms the serving of wine into a silent but profound narrative, perfectly in tune with the Chef’s philosophy.
At her side, Restaurant Manager Mark Ignatov guides the dining room with grace and precision, creating authentic hospitality, where every detail speaks of beauty, balance, and welcome.
With the title of “Sommelier of the Year,” Clizia Zuin has established herself as one of the brightest voices in Italian sommellerie: a woman capable of combining technique and poetry, rigor and heart.
Her journey is not only a professional achievement, but also the symbol of a vision: that of someone who believes that wine is not just served, but told—with grace, respect, and passion.
About Atto by Vito Mollica
In the heart of Florence, ATTO by Vito Mollica—a Michelin-starred restaurant and part of the Krug Ambassade—is located in the charming Corte degli Imperatori of Palazzo Portinari Salviati. The rooms, decorated with frescoes by Alessandro Allori, blend with elements of contemporary art, creating a dialogue between past and present.
Every evening, the restaurant becomes the setting for a gastronomic experience crafted with precision and soul: a place where every gesture, every flavor, and every glance is an act of art and emotion.
