Marco Campanella leaves Ascona for the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz
The two-star chef of La Brezza will co-develop a new restaurant in the resort's Quellenhof from spring 2027, as Sven Wassmer's three-star Memories closes in February.
Marco Campanella, chef of the two-Michelin-star La Brezza restaurants in Ascona and Arosa, will join the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz in spring 2027, the resort announced this week. The arrival of Marco Campanella in Bad Ragaz follows the end of the resort's partnership with Sven Wassmer, whose three-star Memories closes in February.
According to the resort, Campanella will co-develop one of two new restaurant concepts opening in its Quellenhof building in spring 2027. Its culinary direction has not yet been disclosed, htr.ch reported. The second concept will focus on contemporary health cuisine. Both belong to the long-term strategy the resort calls GRBR 2035, which aims to make it a leading luxury wellbeing and healthy living resort in Europe.
The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz and the Wassmer Family Group end their eight-year collaboration in February 2027. Two restaurants close with it: Sven Wassmer Memories, with three Michelin stars and 18 GaultMillau points, and verve by sven, with one star and 15 points. The resort will run both sites itself. Its Italian restaurant Nesso and Thai restaurant Sanook reopen in December 2026.
The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz replaces a three-star chef with a two-star chef and a blank menu.
Marco Campanella in Bad Ragaz from May
Campanella has signed and starts in May 2027, the St. Galler Tagblatt reported. He told the paper that commuting between two cantons was no longer sustainable and that he had several offers, including from Zurich. After ten years, he said, the next step was due. Many of his staff will follow him, among them Jonas Fechner, who returns as sous chef after working with Andreas Caminada and Heiko Nieder.
Born on Lake Constance, Campanella trained with Caminada at Schloss Schauenstein and with Rolf Fliegauf. He took over La Brezza at Hotel Eden Roc in Ascona in 2018 and since winter 2020/21 has also run its winter edition at the Tschuggen Grand Hotel in Arosa. Both hold two Michelin stars and 19 GaultMillau points, and GaultMillau named him chef of the year 2025. The 2027 title went to Dominik Hartmann, the first vegetarian chef of the year.
Ascona waits for a successor
Campanella leaves the Tschuggen Collection after a last winter season in Arosa, from 11 December 2026 to the end of February 2027, according to htr.ch. No successor has been named for Ascona. Leo Maissen, chief executive of the Tschuggen Collection, told the Tagblatt that a solution for the Eden Roc restaurant would be found by summer.
Simon Spiller, general manager of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, described the hire as an important impulse for the resort's gastronomy. Michelin stars are awarded to a restaurant rather than to a chef, so whoever takes over in Ascona will cook under the inspectors' review from the first summer service.
