Philippe Léveillé
French-born chef and Italian-based television personality
Biography
Philippe Léveillé is a French-born chef and television personality based in Italy, best known for his work at Miramonti l'Altro in Concesio, near Brescia. His career blends a classical French training with Italian cooking, and his story reflects how the gastronomy of the two countries has increasingly overlapped in recent decades.
Born in Nantes on 27 July 1963, he grew up around the sea: his father farmed oysters in Cancale, in Brittany. He began his training in 1976 at the hotel school in Saumur and completed an apprenticeship in Nantes under chef Bery. He then moved to Paris, working as a commis at Lucas Carton, then a three-star Michelin restaurant led by Alain Senderens, and later worked with Georges Blanc in Vonnas.
In 1981 and 1982 he did humanitarian work with the Red Cross in Djibouti, Somalia, Ethiopia and Yemen. Back in Europe he worked in kitchens in Paris, Corsica, the Caribbean, South America and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. He settled in Italy in December 1987, working first at Le Maschere in Iseo and then at Ponte di Briolo in Valbrembo, before joining Miramonti, the Piscini family's restaurant, in 1992. Since 1994, when it moved to Concesio and was renamed Miramonti l'Altro, he has developed a cuisine described as combining French technique with Italian tradition. His wife, Daniela Piscini, runs the dining room as maître d'hôtel. His legacy lives on at Miramonti l'Altro and in the Hong Kong project, which opened in 2012 and to which he provided culinary guidance until April 2017.
Key contributions
- Miramonti l'Altro, in Concesio: a Michelin-starred restaurant for many years and a reference for Franco-Italian cooking in northern Italy.
- L'Altro, in Hong Kong: an Italian restaurant linked to Miramonti that earned Michelin stars in 2013 and 2014.
- Risotto classes: taught Italian risotto in Lyon and Paris in 2017, including at the Institut Paul Bocuse and École Grégoire-Ferrandi.
- Television work: appearances on gastronomy programmes that have introduced Italian cooking to a broad audience.