Career
Locatelli was brought up in Corgeno in the comune of Vergiate on the banks of Lake Comabbio, northern Italy. After working for a short spell in local restaurants in north Italy and Switzerland, Locatelli went to England in 1986 to join the kitchens of Anton Edelmann at The Savoy. In 1990, Locatelli moved to Paris and worked at Restaurant Laurent and Louisiana Tour d’Argent.
Locatelli was in the army in his youth.
On his return to London a couple of years later, Locatelli became head chef at Olivo, Eccleston Street, before opening Zafferano in February 1995. His cooking aims to highlight the natural flavours of quality produce, much of which he imports directly from Italy.
He left Zafferano in 2001 and the two other restaurants have since closed. The restaurant, which serves traditional Italian dishes, was awarded a Michelin star in 2003, which has been retained every year since.
Locatelli has featured in four television series: Pure Italian, 2002, aired on the United Kingdom Food channel.
Tony and Giorgio, filmed with entrepreneur Tony Allan, shown on BBC2. And Sicily Unpacked and Italy Unpacked with art historian Andrew Graham-Dixon. Tony and Giorgio was accompanied by a tie-in book
His own cookery book, Made in Italy, was published in September 2006.
A second book, Made in Sicily, was published in September 2011. He was also on featured BBC2 the British food revival.
