Osmosi is a Michelin star-rated restaurant located at Villa Svetoni, a luxury wine resort in Montepulciano. Executive Chef Mirko Marcelli says his contemporary Italian menu is designed to create a transformational osmosis between the ingredients and their aromas and flavors.
“Traditional Italian cuisine is a combination of territorial cooking and taste. My approach is to apply new and different cooking techniques to a dish, adding or altering ingredients to enhance and /or create new flavors,” Chef Marcelli told us.
The name, Osmosi, refer to a process in cooking- osmosis- transforming the moisture content from one ingredient to another, ultimately enhancing and/or altering aromas, flavors and textures of a dish. Read more here on how osmosis impacts cooking and food preservation.
This is not your Italian Nonna’s cooking. There are plenty of osterias in the village of Montepulciano for those hearty soul-satisfying dishes. Osmosi transforms traditional ingredients of the land with a contemporary spin on flavors and textures. Your dishes may be flavored with sweet and sour sauce, Cajun spices, fermented vegetables and accented with parmesan foam and bee pollen.
We recommend one of the three tasting menus for the full experience: Concentration (nine courses based on the chef’s inspiration of the day), Sostanza (seven courses guided by seasonal and global influences) and Materia (five course, vegetable focused). We chose the vegetable focused menu.
Osmosi is open for lunch and dinner except Wednesdays when it is closed. Reservations are essential.
Osmosi – Montepulciano – a MICHELIN Guide Restaurant
Atmosphere
The floor-to-ceiling windows in our dining room (there are two) overlooked the vineyards of Fattoria Svetoni. To the left of our table, small windows allowed us to watch chefs preparing final touches to the dishes. The room is quiet but not formal. At lunch the tables were all full. A few tables had American tourists.
Here are a few photos taken by David Ransom from our lunch:
Spiced Carrot Puree in Mille Feuille- one of three amuse bouche
Zabaglione of white asparagus with almond parmesan and bee pollen (zabaione salato, mandorla, parmigiano e polline]
Grilled artichoke heart on artichoke cream with orange marmalade (Carciofo con marmellata di arancia e levistico)
Ravioli-with-raveggiolo-cheese-spring-vegetables (raveggiolo, verdure primaverili e fondo vegetales)
Chef Mirko Marvelli with Elena and Simone Miglorucci Photo: Lido Vannucchi
About the Chef
Born and raised in Velletri near Rome, Mirko Marcelli, realized at a young age that he wanted to cook. After graduating from a culinary school, he worked in large hotel kitchens in Rome and Sardinia. Ultimately, he decided to pursue a career in fine dining. In Rome, he worked at La Pergola with Chef Heinz Beck and at Eit Restaurant with Chef Luigi Nastri. Both of these Michelin star chefs taught him the important of creating a precision balance of flavors and ingredients while flexing his creativity.
Chef Marcelli is a partner in Osmosi with Simone and Elena Miglorucci, who previously ran a catering company called The Full Barrel in Torrita di Siena. Simone oversees the Osmosi’s 3000 bottle wine list which focuses on Italy (including Fattoria Svetoni wines) and selections from around Europe.