Adriana Giramonti

Adriana Giramonti (1929–2016) was an Italian-American chef who co-founded restaurant Giramonti's in Mill Valley, California in 1977.

Early life and education Adriana Silvestri was born on May 24, 1929, in Presenzano, Italy. The young Silvestri was a childhood friend of Sophia Loren, a relationship that would sustain throughout their lives. However, the couple decided to start new and opened their namesake restaurant Giramonti's, in Mill Valley, California in 1977. In 1983, Giramonti was featured on Great Chefs. Dishes on the menu included Roman-style artichokes, Empress mushrooms, crostini with chicken livers, marinated eggplant, linguine with prawns, and veal in mustard cream sauce. For her veal, Giramoti sourced local, avoiding mass raised synthetically fed veal. The San Francisco Examiner called Giramonti a "master chef" and called it, alongside Ondine, "Marin's most favored dinner houses" in 1981. She appeared regularly on the morning news program on KGO-TV.

During her career, Giramonti never called herself "chef" choosing to refer to herself as a cook. She acknowledged that there were not many women being celebrated as chefs during the 1980s. Giramonti believed that women chefs were more creative and experimental than male chefs. She worked five days a week, starting in the kitchen at 10 a.m.

Later life and legacy Giramonti taught her grandchildren how to cook, with gnocchi being a favorite dish of the children. She also continued painting throughout her entire life, displaying her own paintings in her house.

Giramonti died on June 6, 2016, in San Rafael.