The 2026 opened with a new chapter for the stories of Penthouse by the sea, who entrusted the leadership of the kitchen to Mirko Lucidialready an integral part of the brigade since September 2025. A change that does not mark a before and an after, but a continuation: coherent, natural, necessary. The Simone and Sara Marconi's restaurant, a point of reference in the Marche region's restaurant industry since 2007 and listed in the Michelin Guide since 2025, inaugurates a new chapter by entrusting the guide to Mirko Lucidi.
Born in 1992, Mirko arrived at the Attico last September with a clearly defined role: to get to know first-hand the history, sensitivity and taste that have made the restaurant so recognisable, and then to imprint his own vision with consistency and respect. An insertion designed to ensure continuity and at the same time prepare an expected evolution. His cuisine brings a greater linearity, cleanliness and depth of taste, a creative energy that does not betray the identity of Attico sul Mare but amplifies it, focusing on technique, balance and intensity. A new signature that promises refinement and spectacle on the plate, without losing what the public has always appreciated about the restaurant.
Next to him, the presence of the historian sous chef Stefano D'Amato guarantees continuity and consistency: a constant dialogue between memory and future, between established gestures and new readings. Mirko Lucidi's professional path is built on solid foundations.
Nine years at Green Lantern of Villa di Chiavennabetween game, chestnuts, mushrooms, freshwater fish and a rigorous discipline of work. Then Il Saraceno di Cavernago, where he refines an essential vision of fish, blending Bergamo tradition and Amalfi suggestions. Finally, La Vecchia Malcesine, historical star Michelin on Lake Gardawhere he managed the entire kitchen and brigade under the guidance of Leandro Luppi, consolidating organisational and design skills. Different experiences, geographically and culturally distant, that have taught him the value of precision, respect for hierarchies, and a deep listening to the raw material.
"Never feeling full,' he says, 'is fundamental. Constancy and precision admit no shortcuts'. At 32 years old, the decision to return to Le Marche is not a step backwards, but an act of awareness: 'I needed to give personal meaning to everything I had learnt. Returning home means working in an area that I really know, with raw materials that I feel are mine"..
The new menu, which has been under consideration for some time and will be available from mid-March 2026, will be the most authentic reflection of this vision. Cleanliness of dishes, legibility of flavours, essentiality of gesture: each preparation will have to tell something, without ever being an end in itself. The local catch remains the beating heart of the proposal, enhancing even less noble and less known species, respecting the sea and its rhythms. Alongside fish, a central role is given to vegetables and animals from Hortusthe family farm, recognised by the Ministry of Culture as a historic garden of national importance. Being producer and cook of the same ingredient, for Lucidi, represents the highest value: knowing the cycle, the seasonality, the work that precedes the dish. Among the dishes symbolising this new phase is Brodetto: personal and collective memory, technique and territorial identity.
And then a dessert that surprises and tells home: 'oranges, fennel and black olives'. Not a salad, but a dessert that springs from memories and transforms them into experience.
2026 also marks an important opening in terms of hospitality. L'Attico sul Mare introduces a business lunch for 38 euros, including a welcome glass, starter of the day, first or second course, water and coffee. A formula designed to introduce new guests to the restaurant's cuisine, without compromising on quality. In addition, every Monday evening, the Under 30 menu will be available at a reduced price. An explicit invitation to young people, to restore value to the experience of eating out, without feeling out of place. "I would like a young person to take home the welcome, the awareness of the work behind a dish, the respect for the raw material," says Lucidi.
Becoming a chef means 'dictating the way', taking on the burden of decisions and direction. For Mirko Lucidi, the goal is to build a solid and consistent cuisine over time, both from a human and a culinary point of view. And if in ten years' time someone will be talking about his cuisine, the wish is simple and profound: that they recognise a sincere path, linked to the territory and that dining at Attico sul Mare will be perceived as "a good investment of one's time and money".
Tradition that continues, hands that are renewed. At the Attico sul Mare, the future does not erase memory: it makes it clearer, more essential, truer.
"Mirko, you arrived at the Attico sul Mare on tiptoe and today you become its leader: what kind of responsibility do you feel on your shoulders?"
"I feel a responsibility to give Attico sul Mare the follow-up it deserves, maintaining its strong identity and accompanying it in a coherent and conscious evolution."
"After important experiences in starred kitchens in northern Italy, what made you realise that the time was right to return to Le Marche?"
"At a certain point in my journey, I felt the need to give personal meaning to everything I had learnt up to that point. Coming back home means working on an area that I really know, with raw materials that I feel are mine, in a project that already has a solid foundation."
"How has your path, from mountain game to lake and sea fish, built your identity as a cook?"
"Through precision, consistency, respect for hierarchies and the management of workflows at different times of the year. Northern kitchens also offer more creative freedom, precisely because they are less bound by local traditions. All the more reason to have acquired national and international culinary knowledge and techniques, both of land and water, fresh and salt. It is here that you value listening to the product and understand, through techniques and research, how fundamental it is to respect the raw material without distorting it on the plate."
"You have worked as a sous chef for a long time: what really changes, inwardly and professionally, when you become a chef?"
"The weight of the decisions changes. If before there was a daily confrontation with the chef, now the confrontation will be with myself (as well as with the sous chef, of course). Chef means dictating the way, giving direction and taking responsibility even in the most challenging moments."
"Is there a gesture, teaching or discipline learnt in your 'star' years that you still feel is indispensable today?"
"More than one. Certain experiences leave you with a lot, both on a communicative level and in the constancy of the work itself. Never feeling satiated is fundamental to your goals, to make sure that every day you maintain precision without looking for shortcuts."
"How important to you is the balance between technical rigour and personal instinct on the plate?"
"Technical rigour is fundamental. Without it, instinct can be confusing and erratic. Finding the right balance between these two aspects leads to understanding how far one can go without losing real values."
"What role did the discussion with Simone and Sara Marconi play in defining the future direction of the restaurant?"
"Impactful. With Sara and Simone I got on immediately. It's not easy nowadays to find a reality like this, where attention to detail, respect and the desire to give a clear, readable and constant identity can be felt on a daily basis."
"The presence of Stefano D'Amato ensures continuity: how do memory and innovation dialogue in your kitchen today?"
"Memory is a starting point and not a constraint. Without tradition there can be no innovation. Some dishes and gestures will remain, but will be reinterpreted with greater essentiality."
"If you had to tell the Attic by the Sea to someone who does not know it, what words would you use today?"
"Precision and balance, between the solidity of history and the contemporary. A place where the memory of fishermen and the gestures of farmers are translated into culinary experience."
"You often talk about the 'cleanliness' and 'readability' of dishes: what does that mean concretely in your way of cooking?"
"Every dish must express something and have a meaning, without being an end in itself. Clear and delineated elements, without confusion. On arrival at the table, the recognisability of the raw material must be the strong point of my cooking."
"The local catch remains central."
"It has always been our base. We work on what our fishermen and our sea have to offer, bringing less noble and less known local fish to the table."
"The family farm, Hortus, enters the menu in a direct way: what is the value of cooking ingredients that you know from the start?"
"It is definitely an element that had a big impact on the decision to return home. It is a huge value as well as a pleasure. Knowing the cycle of an ingredient, the seasonality and the work behind it, getting to be both producer and consumer, I think is the greatest satisfaction for a chef."
"Is there a dish on the new menu that you feel is particularly representative of this new phase?"
"Yes, the brodetto. It was always the first dish I ate when I came home. It represents my territory: technique, memory, cleanliness and culture. But also the dessert born on the notes of memories of home: 'oranges, fennel and black olives'. Not a salad, but a dessert."
"2026 introduces more accessible formulas such as the business lunch and the Under 30 menu: why is it important today to open haute cuisine to new audiences?"
"Because the new kitchen must be accessible to everyone. Approaching new guests means building the future."
"What kind of experience do you want a young person under 30 to take home after a dinner at the Attic?"
"I believe that in recent years the sense and value of going out to dinner has been somewhat lost, especially for young people. I would like a young person to bring with him the welcome, the importance of cooking as recognition and value of the raw material, understanding the work behind a single dish, without feeling out of place in an unfamiliar context."
"Looking to the future, what is your most ambitious goal as a chef?"
"Building a solid and consistent kitchen over time, both from a staff and a culinary point of view."
"If in ten years' time someone talks about 'Mirko Lucidi's cooking', what would you like them to say?"
"I would like it to be noticeable how far I've come in the last ten years, but even more so to be recognisable of my sincere identity linked to the territory. In fact, if someone were to tell me that dining here is like having invested their time and money well, that would be the greatest satisfaction."
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