Cannes in December is usually all about contracts, champagne and carefully pressed linen. The glamour is controlled, the smiles well-rehearsed, and every canapé has a commercial purpose. But this year, amid the transactional theatre of the International Luxury Travel Market, something far more personal is taking place behind the dining table.
Three Italian chefs not united by branding, but by friendship, are cooking their way onto the French Riviera with dishes built on memory, territory and honest affection for ingredients.
From December 2 to 4, 2025, The Cocoon Collection will host three invitation-only gastronomic evenings during ILTM Cannes (https://www.iltm.com/cannes.html), exporting not just Italian food, but Italian philosophy: slow respect for produce, great regional pride and the quiet power of shared meals.
It is, in many ways, an old-fashioned idea – and all the better for it.
Cocoon, the family-owned luxury resort group behind properties in the Maldives and Zanzibar, has long treated food not as an accessory to luxury, but as its emotional centre. Its now-famous Gourmet Weeks across tropical resorts have become a gathering point for serious chefs and serious diners, experiences where food is not staged, but practised.
Cannes is different. There are no infinity pools here, no palm-lined lagoons. Just boardrooms, champagne flutes and some of the most powerful buyers in global luxury travel. Which is precisely why Cocoon is bringing something unapologetically human to the Riviera.
The protagonists could not be more Italian if they tried.
At the helm is Giovanni De Ambrosis, Culinary Director of The Cocoon Collection, custodian of the brand’s gastronomic conscience. Alongside him are Daniele Provezza, chef-owner of Dispensa Franciacorta, and Roberto Valbuzzi, chef-patron of Crotto Valtellina and a familiar face to millions of Italians through television.
They are not collaborators of convenience. They are friends first, professionals second, connected by years of kitchens, mistakes, refinements and the quiet understanding that only people who cook for a living ever honestly share.
Their Cannes collaboration is being described as a story of micro-territoriality. In plain English: each chef brings a piece of home to the plate.
Each evening will begin with a six-handed aperitif, three small creations acting as culinary calling cards. From there, the menus will evolve nightly, designed not for repetition but for conversation. The final act each evening is a shared dessert, served alongside two artisanal panettone cakes with their creams, a gentle nod to Italy’s deep culture of festive sharing.
The menus are not designed to shout. They are designed to speak clearly.
On December 2, Daniele Provezza opens with quiet confidence:
Tortelli with lake fish, Franciacorta, puntarelle and Tradition Calvisius caviar.
It is a dish anchored in the waters of Brescia, freshwater fish lifted by local sparkling wine and the measured luxury of Italian caviar. No fireworks, just composure.
On December 3, Roberto Valbuzzi brings Lombardy’s playful modernism to the table:
“Pastificio Baradello” trottole with “Casale Roccolo” gubet cream, plum, peanut and tahini chutney.
Sweetness, roasting, acidity and texture collide in a dish that feels like northern Italy shaking hands with the broader world.
On December 4, Giovanni De Ambrosis closes with a dish that mirrors Cocoon’s own geographical story:
Risotto “In Love: Maldives and Zanzibar” with coconut milk, black pepper, Zanzibar coffee and lobster reduction.
It is tropical warmth folded into classical Italian technique — sea meeting spice, romance meeting restraint.
“These evenings represent the true value of our profession: sharing, growing, and celebrating flavour and friendship together. Each of us brings our own unique identity to the table, but true success comes from harmony and mutual respect,” De Ambrosis says.
It is not a marketing line. It is how the menus read.
For Cocoon, this Cannes showcase is not about flexing culinary muscle. It is about reaffirming a belief that luxury today is not defined by excess, but by authenticity. The group’s resorts from Cocoon Maldives, You & Me Maldives and Joy Island, to Gold Zanzibar, The Island Pongwe and Bawe Island, have been built on the idea that guests no longer want a staged paradise. They want a real connection with the place.
Food, more than architecture, delivers that.
In an industry now dominated by technology platforms, yield algorithms and frictionless check-ins, Cocoon’s approach feels almost defiantly traditional. Taste is not optimised. It is learned. Friendship is not scalable. It is earned.
For Australian luxury travel buyers watching the Riviera closely, the message is as much commercial as cultural. Gastronomy is no longer an amenity. It is brand identity. It is how travellers remember, differentiate and return.
The Riviera will do what the Riviera always does in December. Deals will be signed. Champagne will be poured. Promises will be exchanged in low voices over linen-draped tables. But for a small group of guests, memory will carry something more durable than contracts.
It will carry lake fish and caviar. Lombard pasta and roasted nuts. Coconut coffee risotto and lobster.
And three Italian friends, cooking, as they always have, not for applause, but for people.
By Susan Ng – (c) 2025
Read Time: 5 minutes
About the Writer
With the polish of an international hotel professional and the heart of a born storyteller, Susan Ng has spent years behind reception desks, in banquet halls, and among linen carts, learning what genuine hospitality feels like, not just looks like. From the first greeting to the last goodnight, she understands that excellence lives in the small, unshowy gestures that linger long after checkout.
Away from the bustle, Susan’s curiosity found another front desk: the blank page. Her candid, thoughtful, sometimes wry blog pieces drew a quiet but loyal readership who sensed the truth behind her words. Today she’s turning that same eye for grace and imperfection toward the written world, offering stories rich in empathy, insight and lived detail. Every time, expect warm, genuine and polished writing like the perfect check-in.
