Michele Fortunato
Il Lago Chef
Four Seasons Tenure
- Since 2024
- First Four Seasons Assignment: Current
Employment History
- Hotel de Paris Saint-Tropez, France; Restaurant Piero, Paris; Hotel JK Place, Paris; Restaurant Il Carpaccio, Hotel Royal Monceau, Raffles, Paris; Osteria Roma de Luca, Paris; L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon Saint-Germain, Paris; Relais Alla Corte del Sole, Petrignano, Italy; Ristorante San Domenico, Bologna, Italy; Enoteca Pinchiorri, Florence; Palazzo Avino, Ravello, Italy; Grand Hotel Majestic Già Balioni Bologna, Italy
Education
- Diploma, Culinary, IPSAR Marconia, Italy
Birthplace
- Massafra, Taranto, Italy
Languages Spoken
- Italian, French
“The cuisine matches the atmosphere, and quite an atmosphere it is,” says Chef Michele Fortunato of the classic culinary he creates with modern techniques at Il Lago at Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, Geneva. Recruited in 2024 to lead the lakeside property’s long-running, Michelin-starred signature Italian dining experience, Fortunato draws inspiration from guests and makes it his mission to follow through on what he discovers. “The people we host don’t have a lot of free time: They want to relax and enjoy while being conscious of their health. Our goal is to make their time with us the highlight of their day.”
While Italian cuisine is the focus of Il Lago, Fortunato innovates with a range of tastes from all corners of the Mediterranean. He is very liberal with olive oil, the better to keep things on the light and tasty side, he says. He also strives for simplicity, letting the freshness and flavours of ingredients he secures both locally and via import shine through. “I’m very particular about the quality of the ingredients. After all, they are what constitutes a dish.”
What assembles dishes is the 24-member team Fortunato manages in the kitchen – fewer in general than what has worked with in previous assignments, yet no-less impressive for their collective skill. He believes strongly in keeping lines of communication open with individual team members and in talking freely and openly to earn people’s trust and get them to participate, especially in the creation of new menus and seasonal dishes. “I like to take people by the hand and go with them looking for higher goals,” he says, metaphorically. “One thing I know is that kitchens are always stronger when everyone works together.”
Born and raised in the historic town Massafra in the province of Taranto in southeast Italy, Fortunato was drawn first to cooking, then to the culinary profession by his mother, a restaurant chef, whose recipes, including “the best cannelloni in the world,” inspired him to go on to hotel school. “It worked on me, but not on my brother,” he remembers with a laugh of his only sibling, who choose to make his living in another field.
In the tradition of so many great Italian chefs, Fortunato worked his way up in kitchens all over the place: First in Italy: He fondly remembers early turns under great chefs at Michelin two- and three-star restaurants in Ravello and Florence as inspiring him to fall in love with hospitality and high-level gastronomy; then in Paris, where he arrived in 2012 as a cook at a Joël Robuchon restaurant, and went on to lead kitchens at a number of highly rated hotels.
How did he find his way to Four Seasons in Geneva? “I saw a job posting and applied, but the company had been on my radar for years,” he recalls, noting in particular Four Seasons renown for the highest levels of service. “I love the fact that the goal is always to please the clients.”
Outside of work, Fortunato enjoys sports, especially keeping fit at the gym. He also likes spending time with family, including his wife Federica, also a chef, and their daughter, who shares her mother’s name. Now that he’s surrounded by the Alps in Geneva, might he be teaching young Federica to ski one day? “Well, if so, we’ll be learning together,” he says with another laugh. “To be honest, I prefer the seashore. But I’m open for anything.”
