He was a sought after chef and a successful entrepreneur, one of the most famous and appreciated Italian restaurateurs worldwide. Sirio Maccioni he died at 88 years of age, 15 days old, in his home in Montecatini Terme, in the province of Pistoia.

His own story

Famous for his restaurant Le Cirque, in New York, he traveled one long mess tin before reaching fame. It began at the Grand Hotel La Pace in Montecatini, before moving abroad and working at the Plaza Athenee in Paris, at the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg and on large cruise ships, where he learned the secrets of high-level international catering. Which he has applied since, in 1974, he opened the Le Cirque restaurant in New York, first at the Mayfair Hotel, then at the Palace Hotel – under the Le Cirque 2000 banner -, and finally at the Bloomberg Tower.

A place that had an extraordinary success: it was attended by many presidents of the United States, from Nixon to Reagan, from Carter to Clinton, and from international celebrities. Maccioni took care of the high level of cuisine and the origin of the raw materials, which was brought directly from Italy. From Tuscany, for example, Colonnata lard was sent. "In the United States people want a simple kitchen. Everyone asks me for pasta ", he had told in an interview in 2012." In recent years, however, I have understood that Tuscan dishes are the ones you like best. For example, boiled meat, which nobody does as my wife does. " Henry Kissinger is said to have loved his special cod ravioli, and Woody Allen la crème brulée.

But, in addition to Le Cirque, Maccioni opened other successful restaurants all over the world: in Las Vegas (Hotel Bellagio), India, Abu Dhabi, Dominican Republic, with the help of his wife Egidiana and their children Mario, Marco and Mauro. A long and intense life, which he told in his autobiography Sirio: the Story of My Life and Le Cirque, who wrote together with the food critic Peter Elliot.

Even if he lived abroad for eleven months a year, Maccioni never forgot his Montecatini. "When I became mayor, I asked him for a foreword to the touring guide of Montecatini Terme, which I personally brought to him and which he kept in plain sight in Le Cirque," recalls the ex-mayor of Montecatini Beppe Bellandi. "Among other things, he wrote these words:" I love New York, my second home, the land of my success, but when I serve a Tuscan dish to my customers and friends, I also bring all my love for Montecatini to the table Terme, enclosed in its simple and genuine flavors .