EXCLUSIVE: Giacomo Milano to Open New Restaurant and Beach Club in Lifestyle, Expansion Push
MILAN — Ask any affluent tourist for their top three dining spots in Milan and chances are Giacomo Milano makes the list.
Now the owner of the restaurant business and Milan landmark founded in 1958 by chef Giacomo Bulleri, which already boasts several locations in town as well as some in tony resort destinations, is plotting its next phase of expansion, starting from the opening of a new unit in Forte dei Marmi, Italy, this summer.
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In 2023 the company was fully acquired by Fidim, the investment holding of the Rovati family, known for its pharmaceutical business. The takeover followed the acquisition of a 47 percent interest in the business in 2021, which at the time was still owned by the founding Bulleri-Monti family.
“We’ve now reached a point where we look at our present and future with a holistic approach,” said Giacomo Milano’s chief executive officer Giampaolo Grossi.
With previous experience in the restaurant business as general manager of Prada Group-owned Marchesi 1824, Bice in New York, Kuwait and Florida, as well as at Starbucks Italy back in 2017 when the company opened its Reserve Roastery in Milan, the executive joined Giacomo in September 2023, bringing a wealth of international knowledge to the Milanese landmark.
“Giacomo was born from the creative genius of chef Giacomo Bulleri who moved from Collodi, Italy, to Turin and then Milan,” Grossi said. “Since the acquisition the company’s values have been further spotlighted. Friendliness, conviviality, elegance, tradition and excellence are the group’s pillars,” he added.
Bulleri opened the first Da Giacomo Milano outpost on Via Donizetti in Milan but gained acclaim after relocating to the location designed by architect Renzo Mongiardino on Via Sottocorno in 1989.
In the years that followed, the street has become a Giacomo Milano district of sorts with the opening of additional units, each with its distinctive flair, from Giacomo Bistrot, with its tony town house, sexy interiors, and Giacomo Rosticceria, with its picture-perfect little courtyard and dedicated to homemade, family-style cuisine, to Tabaccheria for aperitivo, recently revamped and reopened this week, and Pasticceria, a pastry shop.
After retooling the corporate structure and the identity of its locations — which also include Da Giacomo Arengario, a stunning venue inside Milan’s Museo del ‘900 overlooking Piazza Duomo and Giacomo Caffè Letterario, a café inside Palazzo Reale — the brand is testing more lifestyle-leaning waters.
Next summer, Giacomo Milano will open an outpost in Forte dei Marmi, the luxury seaside hamlet on the Tuscan coast, known for attracting international tourists as well as locals looking for weekend gateways from the city.
The unit is to bow inside the Bagno Marechiaro beach resort, Forte dei Marmi’s oldest. “We wanted to take a further step and create a leisure club, bringing our innovative touch. It’s going to be a new business model for us, but we’re confident that a location such as Forte dei Marmi will help us attract the international tourists who already know our restaurants in Milan,” Grossi said.
“We want to leverage our experience-making capability, working meticulously to ensure a great service at the restaurant and at beach cabanas, providing comfort so that our clients feel like staying with us throughout the day,” he said.
The Forte dei Marmi opening is to flank other resort units, which include Da Giacomo Pietrasanta in the namesake Tuscan seaside location; Da Giacomo al Lago inside the Grand Hotel Tremezzo in Tremezzina, Italy, on Lake Como, as part of a partnership with the De Santis family who own the hotel, and Da Giacomo al Salviatino, a hotel in Fiesole, in the outskirts of Florence, owned by the Rovati family.
This step marks Giacomo Milano’s trajectory toward becoming a full-fledged restaurant and hospitality brand, a move that many competitors — local and international — have been embracing in light of customers’ post-COVID-19 rush to real life experience.
“Our starting point is always what Giacomo Milano has always represented: an experience. I wouldn’t characterize our offering as ‘luxury,’ it’s more like a commodity and the pleasure of enjoying the Giacomo Milano lifestyle feeling at home,” Grossi said.
“Our goal is not to get a Michelin star, but rather to continue in the vein of simplicity and make our clients have a taste of nature and build memories, of what they ate, where and how they ate it, and the experience overall,” he said.
Having cemented a reputation among locals and international visitors alike, Giacomo Milano has managed to attract a wealthy clientele that’s fascinated by the cultural undercurrent that its locations and menus have to offer, Grossi opined.
“It’s flattering to see Michael Jordan or Madonna having dinner at our restaurants, but what’s truly fascinating is to see them enjoy the experience, because they probably wouldn’t have the same elsewhere,” Grossi said.
“I think that Giacomo Milano has truly made a difference in the city. Since 2015 [because of the Expo] Milan has changed tremendously and there are so many, and very good, competitors, but none have the historical component we boast. Our history requires even more work in updating it through innovation, without betraying our identity,” Grossi said.
“I believe that innovation blooms within the perimeter of certain standards which we want to continuously uphold. But you have to spur your talents to think out of the box, and fuel creativity,” he noted.
In 2024 Giacomo Milano posted revenues of 17 million euros, a slight decrease compared to the previous year, but significantly improved margins, with positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization amounting to 2 percent, versus a negative 5 percent in 2023.
Asked about expanding internationally, Grossi said that seeds are being sown. “We’re expanding step by step; we don’t want to rush it. It’s about finding the right partners and the right business model, that can align with our identity and our values,” he said.
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