Chef Riccardo Forapani

Ristorante Cavallino | Maranello, Italy

Riccardo Forapani is the Co-Chef de Cuisine of Cavallino in Maranello. Born and raised in Mirandola, a hamlet 20 km from Modena, Riccardo from an early age was surrounded by the family's love of cooking and for regional culinary traditions. The desire of becoming a cook led him to attend the Hospitality Training High School and to work.

He was taken by Chef Massimo Bottura's philosophy and when he had the chance to meet him in 2007, Massimo offered Riccardo an opportunity to join the team. He was twenty years old when he entered the kitchen team of Osteria Francescana which soon turned into a second family for him. He grew hand in hand with the world of Francescana and became a core member of the restaurant, contributing to many achievements, including the third Michelin star in 2011 and first place at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2016 and 2018. Travelling with the team of Osteria Francescana around Italy and the world, he encountered new traditions and cultures that became essential in his approach to cuisine.

After thirteen years, Riccardo decided to take a step away from fine dining to immerse himself in Emilian culinary traditions. When the Cavallino project started to take shape in 2020, Riccardo was the first chef that Massimo considered to lead the culinary team. His style, born from the love of Emilian culinary traditions enriched by cultural contaminations, perfectly combines with the Ferrari and Massimo Bottura restyling of the classic restaurant Cavallino, in the heart of Maranello. Riccardo’s kitchen breathes new life into centuries old culinary traditions that are cornerstones of the territory's history and storytelling.

Riccardo's two passions converge in the restaurant: his love of slow food that he adopted from his mother, a Modenese cook, and that of fast cars, inherited from his father, a mechanic who dreamed of a future in the Ferrari world for his son.