Il Forno Italian Restaurant
In 1994 Marco´s family came from Italy to India and founded the famous Il Forno Italian Restaurant in Manali, at the foothills of the Himalayas. For seventeen years, Marco and his family have been serving authentic Italian food and wood-fired pizzas, particularly through their self-made oven.
In Italian, "Il Forno" means "the oven" as the wood fired oven is the main attraction in their kitchen.
Il Forno has witnessed famous visitors, such as stars from Bollywood and Indian politicians such as the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Marco spends the low season in manali developing his skills in carpentry and masonry. In fact he has rebuilt the Il Forno oven many times, before establishing the current design that is also the Il Forno By Marco oven`s signatory feature: aesthetically beautiful with excellent heat retention for cooking great pizzas and running cost saver!
other Restaurants began to commission Marco´s wood fired ovens
Since 2012, when Il Forno Italian Restaurant passed to the new ownership, Marco has custom-build commercial wood fired pizza ovens for restaurant across India, making his passion for building a profession. Although Marco built his very first wood fired oven in 2006, it was in 2015 when Il Forno By Marco became a complete brand in itself.
Marco´s mother Roberta Angelone, chef at Il Forno Italian Restaurant, published the cookbook where she has put together the recipes that has made their
restaurant such a success.