Madonnina del Pescatore Senigallia

Madonnina del Pescatore — Moreno Cedroni

Moreno Cedroni opened Madonnina del Pescatore in 1984, at only twenty, on this slightly unlikely stretch of Adriatic coast just south of Senigallia. What began as a relatively conventional fish restaurant gradually became one of the laboratories of modern Italian cooking. Cedroni received his first Michelin star in 1996 and his second ten years later, but perhaps the more consequential moment came through his exposure to Ferran Adrià and El Bulli. A stage there introduced him to a completely different way of thinking about technique, transformation and the possibilities of ingredients. You can still see that intellectual lineage in his cooking today, although over the decades Cedroni has developed a language unmistakably his own.

The 2026 “Luca and Moreno – The Evolution of Fish Bones, a Journey into the Fish Soul” menu is a particularly good example. Its central idea sounds almost academic: rather than treating bones, heads and other normally secondary parts of fish as waste, Cedroni and longtime collaborator Luca Abbadir turn them into ingredients in their own right through ageing, drying, smoking, extraction and fermentation.

The evening appropriately began with a Tribute to Ferran Adrià: the 1997 Parmesan “Gelato”, served with the 2016 Verdicchio Gran Riserva Extra Brut from Garofoli. More than nostalgia, it felt like an acknowledgement of where an important part of Cedroni’s culinary thinking began.

From there, the menu became progressively more ambitious: amberjack with rhubarb, spiny courgette, oxalis and a wafer made from the spines; a marine reinterpretation of pâté en croûte, incorporating monkfish head and tripe, sea-bream sausage, cuttlefish eggs and yuzu; turbot spines aged for two months with burnt herbs, yeast miso and acidulated corn; and Patagonian toothfish coated with its own spines after three months of ageing.

The maccheroncini “fumé” with tuna belly, sea buckthorn, smoked turbot spines and pecorino showed particularly well how the concept works when technique becomes flavour rather than an intellectual exercise. The tuna “ossobuco” continued the playful reinterpretation of familiar Italian forms, while the combination of one-month beeswax-cured lamb with tuna belly pushed the menu onto land without abandoning its central marine narrative.

What impressed us most was how extraordinarily well executed everything was. This is highly technical food, but it never felt as though innovation was being pursued simply to demonstrate technique. The menu was genuinely original and, unusually for cooking operating at this level of experimentation, remarkably coherent.

Service was equally outstanding. Our waiter had been trained by Tina Kragh of Jordnær in Copenhagen, and that pedigree showed: polished and precise, but relaxed enough to allow the evening to become a conversation rather than a performance.

That became particularly enjoyable with Cedroni himself. His El Bulli connection gave us plenty to talk about; having eaten at El Bulli fifteen times, I could trade a few war stories with him about Ferran Adrià and that extraordinary period in European gastronomy. It also made the opening tribute feel considerably more personal.

Cedroni then made a wonderful joke that probably explains the evolution of Madonnina better than any lengthy discussion of culinary philosophy. When he first opened the restaurant, he would come to the table carrying a basket full of whole fish, proudly showing his customers the day’s catch. More than forty years later, he said, he still comes to the table with fish — only now it arrives on a tray, with each piece treated individually and creatively: aged, fermented, dried, smoked or otherwise transformed.

In a way, that single image tells the whole story of Madonnina del Pescatore. The fundamental ingredient has hardly changed; what has changed completely is the thinking around it. The basket of whole fish has become a tray of carefully transformed pieces, yet Cedroni’s fascination with the fish itself has never disappeared.

More than forty years after opening Madonnina, he is still experimenting. There is plenty of history here, but surprisingly little nostalgia. The Fish Bone menu feels contemporary, curious and genuinely innovative — an extraordinarily well-executed dinner from a chef who, even after four decades, clearly hasn’t lost his desire to discover something new. Less

Moreno Cedrino opened his now Michelin ⭐️ ⭐️ in 1984 and the age of 20 , located just a stone throw from his childhood home . For 40+ years he has been driven by the tenets of creativity , originality and fun , and he delivers it in spades @madonninadelpescatore .

His current menu is a study of fish bones , he uses a Korean pan called an Ocoo to deeply caramelise the bones then ages them for around 3 months before grating them , they offer a Smokey Unami quality and are a great condiment to many of his dishes .

The menu starts with a cube of amberjack crudo , a salty rhubarb sauce and a biscuit made of the aged amberjack bones in the tradition of cats tongue biscuits . A great example of the type of creativity delivered here .

Pate en croute is next , utilising monkfish head and tripe , sea bream sausage , red shrimp , cuttlefish and octopus. The garnishes of local herbs , yuzu , pistachio mousse and port jelly are all ideal foils for the rich seafood preparation.

A truly unique dish sees a mix of herbs burnt over charcoal and paired with a yeast miso and a dressing of aged turbot bones .

Toothfish is confit in oil , served with a pumpkin sweet and sour sauce and cucumber oil, the collagen of the Toothfish is served stuffed into an oven roasted cherry tomato .

The pasta course was the dish of the night . Maccheroncini made with both white and green seaweed , tuna belly bacon , tomato and sea buckthorn fume , turbot bones and pecorino .

Tail pieces of the tuna are slow cooked to create Tuna Ossobuco , paired with a punchy green sorrel sauce , cauliflower jardinera and mostarda , this is another standout .

Lamb is mellowed for one month under beeswax , served with a cacciatore sauce and celeriac with lamb jus .

The palate cleanser is a savoury herbal tea with mushrooms and grated smoked pumpkin , perfect reset .

Pre dessert aims to showcase the desert , spiced meringue sand , dates , chocolate and a gin and tonic sorbet portray the landscape .

Finally creme caramel which is also cooked on the Ocoo pan is charred and served with pumpkin gelato and black garlic . Less