Here, she is the head chef at Lilium, a wine & cocktail bar with a kitchen where she brings her gastronomic vision to life, deeply influenced by her travels and life experiences.
Daniela grew up surrounded by the kitchen, being "born into the craft" Her father, Clemente Maiorano, is the owner of the namesake restaurant in Sulmona, in the heart of the Central Apennines. So when, in her twenties, a surge of energy drove her to leave the valley and move to Rome to study, she still managed to dedicate herself both to her university studies and to cooking.
Despite how much we Italians praise our cuisine, this admiration doesn’t always reflect the working conditions offered by the restaurant industry in Italy until a few years ago (and sometimes still today). We remain trapped in the notion that the chef's life is all about blood, sweat, and sacrifice. That one must endure long, exhausting shifts, have minimal free time, and ideally, set aside the idea of having a family. It’s a mindset that has long been abandoned overseas, where a higher quality of life is prioritized. Shorter working hours and a more sustainable lifestyle naturally translate into the dishes served and the atmosphere of the dining room.
Daniela Maiorano's cuisine is a melting pot of cultures, flavors, and techniques, all learned from the places she’s visited and her ability to adapt, having worked in both essential and more sophisticated environments. At Lilium, where her younger brother Attilio has also joined the adventure, Daniela adopts an organic and ancestral approach, at times holistic. She deeply believes in the properties of food and its intrinsic potential, to the point that she expresses this through medicinal products as well (not coincidentally, Lilium is also known as an apothecary and botanical bar).
Part of the experience at Lilium includes “medicinal cocktails,” drinks made from botanicals and local infusions. Among the standout dishes are those with European influences and the ones that have forever marked Daniela’s childhood, like homemade focaccia and lamb. The use of memory and the power of nostalgia blend seamlessly with the community atmosphere that this place offers, creating a balanced personal and gastronomic connection between the chef's past life in Sulmona and her current one.
