Airelles has announced that acclaimed chef Marco Garfagnini has joined the hotel collection as Executive Chef for the group.

Garfagnini will be responsible for overseeing F&B across Airelles’ portfolio, which includes Les Airelles in Courchevel; Mademoiselle in Val d’Isère; La Bastide in Gordes; Château de la Messardière and Pan Deï Palais in Saint Tropez; and the forthcoming Le Grand Contrôle, Château de Versailles, opening in June 2021.

The chef will begin his journey at Airelles’ summer properties in the south of France, directing all restaurants in Saint Tropez including the brand-new restaurant concepts at Château de la Messardière: La Table de La Messardière, L’Auberge des Maures and Matsuhisa Saint Tropez (a new summer partnership with chef Nobu Matsuhisa).

Garfagnini will also oversee Dolceva at Pan Deï Palais and Zetta, Airelles’ Italian-themed restaurant located in Saint Tropez’s village centre, as well as spending time visiting La Bastide and its five restaurants in Gordes. For the winter season, he will relocate to the French Alps at Les Airelles in Courchevel 1850 and Mademoiselle in Val d’Isère.

Born in the rural Tuscan town of Carrara, chef Marco Garfagnini first found his passion in the family kitchen before training in Paris, London and New York. At the age of 29-years-old, Marco’s first restaurant in Carrara, Ristorante Ninan, was awarded a Michelin star.

From then on, he has gone on to receive a number of prestigious accolades including: The Gambero Rosee Guide’s Young Italian Chef of the Year in 2005, one Michelin star at his Il Lago restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues in Geneva and one Michelin star at Chateau de Noirieux in Briollay, France.

Previously, Garfagnini has been Executive Chef at Four Seasons George V in Paris, and at both Jumeirah Al Naseem and Burj Al Arab in Dubai. The chef is also no stranger to Airelles, having joined Chef Pierre Gagnaire as Executive Chef de Cuisine at all his restaurants, including his two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Piero TT, at Les Airelles in Courchevel.