Giancarlo Caldesi

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. He then worked at the Rome Hilton before moving to the United kIngdom in 1974 to work as a waiter, first at the Kensington Hilton, 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 company's 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 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. He 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, he launched La Cucina Caldesi, a state of the art cookery school where there is now run cooking courses for all ages and abilities.

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

2007 saw the launch of the his 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.