When you dine at Il Forno Italian Restaurant, you’re not just savoring a meal — you’re stepping into a living legacy of flavor, craftsmanship, and passion. Born in the foothills of the Himalayas, nurtured by an Italian family overseas, and transformed into a premium oven-manufacturing brand, Il Forno is more than a restaurant — it’s the heart and soul of Marco Cappiotti’s mission to bring authentic Italian wood-fired pizza culture to India.
In 1994, Marco’s family — hailing from Italy — planted roots in Manali and founded Il Forno Italian Restaurant, serving authentic pizzas and Italian fare from their self-made brick oven. For seventeen years, that little restaurant became a local landmark. As Marco honed his skills in carpentry and masonry, he repeatedly rebuilt the oven, refining its design. That oven became the “signatory feature” of Il Forno — combining aesthetic beauty with excellent heat retention and efficiency.
Over time, other restaurants began commissioning Marco’s ovens. In 2006, Marco built his very first wood-fired oven. By 2015, Il Forno By Marco had evolved into a full-fledged brand: a marriage of restaurant experience and specialized oven craftsmanship.
“Il Forno” literally means “the oven” in Italian — a fitting tribute to what defines this brand. In the Il Forno kitchen, the wood-fired oven isn’t just a cooking tool; it’s the beating heart of every pizza, every crust, every char.
Marco Cappiotti (formerly known as Il Forno) leverages this heritage in every oven built today. With over 500 ovens delivered across India, and more than a decade of experience, the brand is now synonymous with top-tier performance.
From food trucks aiming to wow on the street, to five-star hotel kitchens producing hundreds of pizzas a night, the Il Forno ovens scale. Whether you’re a home cook dreaming of your backyard pizzeria or a caterer chasing consistency at events, there’s a model built for you.
Two Indian pizzerias — Da Susy and Leo’s — celebrated among the “top 50 global pizzerias,” use Marco’s ovens to deliver world-class pizzas from Indian soil.
What’s compelling about the Il Forno story is that the brand’s foundation is rooted in food, not just hardware. Marco’s journey began with a restaurant — not a factory. That gives him a unique lens: he understands the pain, the rhythm, and the demands of pizza kitchens firsthand.
The restaurant granted him the laboratory — testing new oven designs, fuel strategies, heat dynamics — long before scaling to mass production. This deeply rooted restaurant background continues to shape how the brand innovates today.
While the blog’s purpose is to highlight the restaurant identity, it’s worth touching on how the oven transforms pizza from good to sublime:
These results come not by accident, but by deliberate engineering honed over years of experimentation in a working restaurant.
At Il Forno Italian Restaurant, we invite you to taste the difference—and then own it. Whether you visit our original restaurant in Manali (or its legacy) or commission a custom oven, our vision remains the same: to let the oven tell the story.
From our hearth to your kitchen, the flame is always hungry, the crust always crisp — and the story ever unfolding.
