Our philosophy is a storytelling of what HVF is all about. It perfectly reflects the very essence of our Campanian traditions, skilfully mixing innovation, and respect for our culinary heritage.
For our Executive Chef Savio Perna, one MICHELIN Star, the intrinsic quality of the raw material is paramount, with local and biological produce that represent the immense variety of our territory. Each ingredient, carefully selected, originates from the Lattari mountain range while seafood products are strictly from the gulf of Salerno.
Our cuisine is made of passion, love, extreme attention to details, studies, and experiment able to able to exalt every aroma.
Each dish is a journey through the flavors of the extraordinary produce the Campania region offers, an incredible culinary journey that will take you to the heavens of Mediterranean cuisine.
Born in Torre del Greco near (Na), Savio Perna, executive chef at LI GALLI RESTAURANT since 2018, one Michelin Star since 2021, is a prodigal son of the land of the mythological mermaids, the corals and the Mount Vesuvius.
Passion, fine palate and resilience were transmitted by his father, himself a Chef expert in culinary traditions. So was the incommensurable love for the wealth of produce the rich volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvius still offer.
Right after obtaining his degree in culinary arts, Savio works at Il Mosaico restaurant where Chef Nino di Costanzo heads the brigade. Strictness, discipline, respect, passion are the pillars of his education and the lessons Savio was lucky to learn until 2008, when he decides to part ways with his mentor, meanwhile Di Costanzo gets his first Michelin star. Subsequently, Savio collaborates with multi-Michelin starred chefs, from the Amalfi Coast to the Dolomites, sous-chef at Belmond Caruso in Ravello with Mimmo di Raffaele, then sous-chef of Matteo Metullio at La Siriola (two stars) acquainted after an experience with 3-Michelin star Chef Norbert Niederkofler. After a year as sous-chef in Monte Carlo at the 1-Michelin star restaurant Elsa, Savio meets again his mentor Di Costanzo and becomes his sous-chef. Together, they travel the world as Ambassadors of the Campanian Cuisine with the luxury fashion brand Kiton. Savio and Di Costanzo share the same philosophy: the true luxury is simplicity that requires crafting a delicate balance between each element of a recipe.
In 2018, Savio becomes Executive Chef at Villa Franca Positano where Di Costanzo starts a consultancy and later remaining a mentor. This culinary adventure aims at exalting every ingredient, with the right balance between flavors, traditions and innovation, with a particular attention to details and presentation. Every dish must catch the eyes…. and the palate too.
Born in Ischia, his dream of becoming a Chef began at an early age when the passion that his mother and grand-mother transmitted him was so overwhelming that it gave him the strength to study and work in the most prestigious kitchens of that time, the 3-Michelin star restaurants of Gualtiero Marchesi in northern Italy and Arzak in Spain.
In 2008 he received his first Michelin star at the restaurant “Il Mosaico” in Ischia 6 months after the opening. Less than a year later, the restaurant was awarded its second Michelin star while he received the honorary title of “Grand Chef Ambassador Relais & Chateaux”.
After a year of travelling to represent the luxury fashion brand Kiton and the Campanian culinary traditions, he opened his own restaurant “Dani Maison” in Ischia and was awarded a few months later two Michelin stars, four Hats in the Espresso Guide and was involved in the association “Les Grandes Tables du Monde”. From 2018, he started a collaboration with Villa Franca Positano.
Passion, love, research, study, experiment, respect for raw materials from the territory, paired with an incredible willingness to bring to the table many traditional recipes revisited in a contemporary way, are the key elements to my ideas and philosophy of cuisine.
Carmine Di Nardi, born in Pagani, pastry chef for 20 years, a passion born as a child together with his mother. Training experiences in Capri, at the Capri Palace, then at Palazzo Avino in Ravello with chef Pino Lavarra, the first two-starred, where he internalized the essence and soul of creating emotions. Arrive at the Locanda Solarola, 1 Michelin star, with chef Roy Caceres, learning construction through the taste and use of molecular cuisine techniques, training stage on methodology and organization at the Hotel Eden in Rome. The first test as a pastry chef begins at the Hotel Caruso in Ravello, where the journey with Savio Perna begins. The experiences continue at the Hotel La Perla in Corvara (BZ), La Stua di Michielin restaurant, 1 Michelin star, and later at the Casa Salares in San Cassiano (BZ) and by his friend Matteo Metullio in his ascent to the starred restaurant Siriola.
From 2018 with the chef Savio Perna the project at the HVF Villa Franca begins, brought by the chef mentor Nino di Costanzo, where with a fantastic kitchen team, they get the MICHELIN star in 2021 at our RESTAURANT LI GALLI.