The story
Materia sits at via Trieste 1/B in Cernobbio, on the Como side of the lake, and holds one Michelin star (2026). Chef Davide Caranchini cooks a contemporary, plant-centric cuisine that starts and ends with the raw ingredient.
Caranchini opened Materia in 2016. His cooking leans on acidity, herbs, fermentation and rich broths, and it deliberately avoids Lake Como's culinary clichés. 50 Top Italy placed the restaurant at number 29 in its 2026 Grandi Ristoranti ranking, praising the purity of taste and balance.
Green Power (€110) is a five-course vegetarian menu with tomato, almond and basil, a cucumber "Parmigiana", and ricotta and bitter greens tortelli with cream sauce and hibiscus. Manifesto revisits twelve dishes that marked the restaurant's first decade, remade from scratch as Materia turns ten in September 2026. The à la carte list includes fusilli with sea urchin, trout and wild garlic, and pike perch with fermented white asparagus sauce and lemon.
The dining room is sober, intimate and elegant, and service is nimble. The wine list follows the same thinking as the kitchen, with a strong presence of natural wines and independent producers.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
Materia is the project of Davide Caranchini, one of the most compelling chefs of Italy’s new generation, who has brought a contemporary, deeply personal cuisine to the heart of Cernobbio—one that deliberately steps away from Lake Como’s culinary stereotypes. The restaurant is built around a clear concept: raw ingredients as both the starting point and the final destination, approached with technical precision, a plant-centric sensibility, and a gastronomic language that looks ahead while staying firmly rooted. The tasting menu embodies this vision, featuring dishes that navigate between acidity, herbs, fermentation, rich broths, and meticulously calibrated contrasts. This is a cuisine that avoids easy effects, focusing instead on purity of taste and balance, with a pronounced emphasis on the plant world and its potential. The menu also includes several signature dishes that highlight the chef’s touch and his approach to experimentation. Service is nimble and attentive, perfectly aligned with the space’s essential, contemporary design. The wine list follows the same philosophy, offering carefully curated selections with a strong presence of natural wines and independent producers. Season after season, the restaurant consistently reaffirms its identity, presenting a model of modern, mindful fine dining that distinguishes itself across the Lombard scene through its coherence, thoughtfulness, and distinct personality.
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