Cook with a Colleague.
Learn from the Source.

For Professionals

“Cucina povera is not a category. It is a philosophy. You cannot learn it from a recipe book. You need to feel the dough, smell the wood smoke, and understand why the nonna never measured anything. That knowledge is what I want to pass on.”

Chef Domenico Bianco

The Academy is designed for professionals: chefs, cooks, restaurateurs, and food industry practitioners who want to go deeper into the Apulian culinary tradition. Domenico has already worked one-to-one with colleagues from across the world, in English, in a professional kitchen setting, each programme shaped around the participant and their goals.

This is not a cooking class for guests. It is a professional conversation between colleagues, held where the olive trees are older than any restaurant in Italy and the cheese is made from that morning’s milk.

Every Morning

The Market Is Where It Starts

Before anything goes into the pan, Domenico and his colleagues visit the local market. The day’s menu is decided not in a kitchen but in front of the stalls: whatever is freshest, whatever arrived that morning from the farms and the sea.

This is not a side trip. It is the first lesson. Understanding an ingredient, its season, its weight, its smell, changes how you handle it. The recipes start here, in conversation with the producers, before a single pot is lit.

Every programme is tailored to the participant. Dates, formats and the full curriculum will be announced when the Academy opens.