de_DEI Tenerumi is a plant-based fine-dining restaurant at the Therasia Resort on Vulcano, one of Sicily’s Aeolian Islands, with sweeping views across the sea toward the neighbouring islands. It is led by chef Davide Guidara, a young talent who became a head chef at 24 and has made vegetable cookery the centre of his work. He describes I Tenerumi plainly as a “vegetable restaurant”, and its guiding idea — expressed through his “Cook More Plants” philosophy — treats plant-driven cuisine not as a limitation but as a field for serious technique, built around minimalism, essentiality and a deep, savoury sense of umami.
Named after tenerumi, the tender leaves and shoots of the Sicilian cucuzza squash, the restaurant turns vegetables, herbs and island produce into refined tasting menus. Guidara’s cooking has drawn wide recognition: he won a Young Chef Award in 2022, and in 2025 the restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars — noted by the guide as the first two-star vegetable-based restaurant in the Western world. He has also collected honours from the Italian culinary press, and at Therasia he serves as culinary director across the resort’s dining, including its other restaurant, Il Cappero.
The setting is quietly luxurious, the mood contemplative, and the focus resolutely on what can be coaxed from plants alone. I Tenerumi has become a landmark for meat-free fine dining, demonstrating that a vegetable-driven kitchen can reach the very top tier of international gastronomy. Reached by ferry across the Tyrrhenian Sea and perched above the water, it is as much a destination as a restaurant — a place where the island’s own herbs and greens set the rhythm of every menu.