Bice, one hundred years of Milan

The story begins in 1926. Beatrice Mungai – left the Tuscan countryside for Milan with a simple, radical idea: to cook the real thing and to welcome people. She opened a small osteria in via San Pietro all’Orto. The sincerity of her cooking and her instinctive sense of hospitality soon won over a Milanese clientele in search of authenticity. The turning point came in 1939 with the move from Bice via Borgospesso. The restaurant changed scale, becoming a tartan-carpeted gastronomic salon where the worlds of fashion, show business, sport and finance met. Bice went beyond Milan to establish itself as an international signature of Italian elegance. A century later, the original vision remains intact. At the helm are the founder’s granddaughters, Beatrice and Roberta Ruggeri, supported by chef Vincenzo Mazzone, a pillar of the kitchen since the 1980s. And already, the fourth generation – Ambra, Alessandro and Andrea – is following in the family footsteps. In an industry obsessed with novelty, Bice embodies something else: transmission. One hundred years in the hands of the same family, one hundred years of telling the story of Milan through the plate. The city is changing, accelerating and reinventing itself. But at certain tables, time becomes an ally. Bice is living proof of this.