Chef Marco Dipatrizi of The Boat House Ibiza has died
The restaurant in Cala de Sant Vicent announced the death of its executive chef, who according to its website spent three years cooking for the Pope.
The Boat House Ibiza has announced the death of chef Marco Dipatrizi, who had led its kitchen since 2017, according to Periódico de Ibiza and OKDiario. Neither newspaper reported his age, the date or place of his death, or its cause.
The restaurant, a beach venue in Cala de Sant Vicent in the north-east of the island, published the news on its social media channels together with a farewell from its staff, Periódico de Ibiza reported on 31 October. The post closed with the words “We will miss you so much, chef. We love you always, your team,” according to the same newspaper.
OKDiario, which covered the announcement the same day, quoted the team describing him as “a person full of joy and light, always ready to help others”. Excelencias Gourmet, which followed the story on 1 November, reported that no confirmed details about the circumstances of his death had been made public.
The restaurant’s own biography is, for now, the only public record of his years at the Vatican.
Three years cooking for the Pope
According to the biography published on The Boat House website, Dipatrizi was born in Terni, in central Italy, started cooking in his parents’ kitchen at the age of 12 and enrolled in culinary school at 14. The same page states that he spent three years as executive chef to the Pope, cooking for official dinners and large events. Neither the restaurant nor the Spanish outlets that reported his death specify which pontiff he served or the years of that posting.
After that period, the biography says, he worked abroad and learned local cuisines and spices in food markets. Periódico de Ibiza dates his move to the island to 2010.
The Ibiza years of chef Marco Dipatrizi
The Boat House biography recounts that in early 2017 he saw a job advertisement for the restaurant while walking his dog nearby, went in and began working with co-owner Jay. According to the same text, he reorganised the systems of the kitchen and was known in the team as “the Preparation King”, sometimes returning at 4.30 in the morning to make desserts.
The restaurant describes him on its website as a self-styled “food inventor” who combined influences from several cuisines, with Lebanese cooking as his personal favourite. Excelencias Gourmet reported that he was involved both in organising the kitchen and in developing the menu.
The island’s restaurant kitchens were also in the news in October, when AMUSE. reported on a charity dinner in Ibiza at which 21 Michelin-starred chefs cooked for 100 guests.
As of 1 November, no funeral arrangements or memorial had been announced publicly, according to the reports published by Periódico de Ibiza, OKDiario and Excelencias Gourmet.
