Umberto Giraudo

Umberto Giraudo, born in Rome in 1972, is a master of hospitality, one of the best in the world. Without hyperbole or exaggeration, hospitality in its warmest, gentlest and most precise sense seems to be the guiding light for this new Master of Arts and Crafts. 

Gastronomy and Wine Restaurant Management

His career started early and in the most direct way: working his way up on cruise ships, where the glitter of luxury encounters the demands of large numbers. But his course had been laid out: accumulating know-how and experience, Giraudo went on to learn the style of the great maisons of France, working for Alain Ducasse and honing his skills in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and on the fashionable promenades of Montecarlo on the Côte d’Azur. Giraudo grasped at once the importance of redeeming an occupation, that of the waiter, up until then erroneously identified with the archetype of the humble servant. 

In 1999, at the three-Michelin-star restaurant with one of the finest views of the Eternal City, Heinz Beck’s La Pergola at Rome Cavalieri, he was given the opportunity to develop his idea of service at table. A collaboration with the Bavarian chef that lasted for over a decade and was based on a special affection, the fruit of friendship and shared experiences, distilled in their book Arte e Scienza del Servizio, a milestone in the world of hospitality and the dining hall. 

Umberto Giraudo, an actor who seduces his audience with moments of intense silence and with his warm and beguiling voice, has turned the spotlight back onto the importance of service, ennobling the figure of the waiter, for years overshadowed by that of the chef, and leading to a single clear conclusion: a good dish, without good service, is a story only half told. 

His constant efforts on behalf of the culture of hospitality earned him, among many other awards, the Grand Prix de l’Art de la Salle, bestowed on him in 2012 by the Académie Internationale de la Gastronomie, a worldwide association that selects the best representatives for each category of activity in the sector of international gastronomy. The culture of hospitality practiced by Giraudo, today guest relations manager of Rome Cavalier, finds expression in a precise but calm authority, rooted in an intelligent understanding of the people he works with but above all in care for the customer who is the main focus of this attention.