Primo Restaurant is the place where Solaika Marrocco, born in 1995 in nearby Gallipoli, expresses her personality as a modern chef through dishes that are visually stunning and exquisite on the palate.

She took her first steps in the kitchen at home with her mother, driven by a passion for food and cooking. At the age of 10, she worked in a bakery with a wood-fired oven, and at 14 she realized that being a chef would be her life.

She enrolled at the A. Moro Hospitality Institute in Santa Cesarea Terme, where she learned the basics, but her studies—which are still ongoing—have always been accompanied by experience in professional kitchens, because, as she explains, she felt the need from the very beginning to engage with real working life..

Hers is a cuisine that speaks of values—those of her homeland, Puglia—which conveys warmth and provides her with constant inspiration, as well as the ingredients she uses, such as tomatoes, one of her favorites. It also reflects her large family, where the importance of shared meals has always carried great weight.

“At home, it was never just about eating: behind every meal there was a story, a culture, a responsibility. On one hand, there were thoughtful choices, shaped by intolerances, vegetarian diets, and so on; on the other, at the same time, there was immense love in preparing it, in putting care and affection into it,” Solaika explains.