Meet Our Chefs

We are honored to have our meals thoughtfully and beautifully prepared by expert chefs from the Soulfood Firenze community.

Giulia Peyronel

Giulia was born forty years ago in Turin, where she initially studied and graduated in musicology, but then discovered that she’d much rather spend her peeling potatoes and preparing mouthwatering meals.

She worked for many years in both "Bistrònomie" and in the "Gastronomia Vegetariana", and catered with Cuochivolanti. She also cooked for Cultural Association Maurice while in Turin.

Eventually business and love then brought her to Florence, where she was head chef for Cirkoloco, a kitchen and bar whose profits supported a local social project in mental wellness.

Giulia now resides in the hills of Chianti, perfecting her olive oil production and healthy porridges for her newborn baby.

Lucia Reino

Lucia knows that eating the food you grow nurtures the body and the soul, which is why she came back to countryside living in vibrant Chianti, surrounded by gardens, vineyards and olive groves. Here she organically farms seasonal fruits, vegetables, and herbs to use in her kitchen.  She loves to collect and process her own olive oil and forage in nearby forests and fields for wild delicacies, so that she can experiment with new recipes, using all of her harvested goodies, building on her knowledge from many years in the Florentine restaurant industry.

For Lucia good ingredients are the key to cooking magic – and even a simple dish is delicious when made with fresh food, cultivated with mindfulness.

Chef Testimonials

Here is the latest praise from the Spring 2022 Meals:

• Thank you for all the care, kindness... and taste :)

• PERFECT!! Fresh, healthy, extremely delicious, nice setting al fresco, lovely field flowers on the table

• OMG! They were delicious.

• Please send recipes!!! Incredible food, amazingly prepared and accompanied with full explanations of what went into them and how they were concocted. Balanced, healthy and delicious. EVERY meal.

• Ganz wunderbar und großartig. Alles wunderschön angerichtet, vorzüglich gekocht. Auf alle Teilnehmer eingegangen. Beste ital. Küche. Bravo

• Meals were spectacular and the chefs teachings of local cuisine was superb.

• Each one was delicious, healthy, original.

• Wonderful. A variety of local and international dishes created by two very skilled chefs.

• All meals were outstanding, delicious, nutritious, prepared with love and creativity. The cooks were very personal and interactive with all retreat members, A true joy for the eyes and stomach.

• Buenissimo!

• Superb, best meals in Italy I've ever had.

• Meals were excellent, healthy and imaginative.