Firenze:
La nostra prossima meta è lo splendido Palazzo Portinari Salviati, casa natale di Beatrice., la Musa di Dante. Scopriremo un mondo “gourmet” davvero stellare che ospita la Sala Beatrice, l’ambiente multifunzionale nato per ospitare eventi privati e meeting di lavoro,  il Salotto Portinari Bar & Bistrot dominato dalla statua originale di Cosimo 1 dei Medici, che ospita un ristorante per un pranzo di lavoro o una cena  informale, un cocktail bar un drink d’autore e caffetteria anche solo per sorseggiare un ottimo caffè.

Infine il ristorante stellato Chic Nonna di Vito Mollica, all’interno dell’affrescata Corte degli Imperatori, ricca di affreschi, mosaici, possenti colonne e una storica fontana al centro della sala, insomma  un ambiente mozzafiato, dove il personale di sala vi accompagnerà al vostro tavolo.

Chic Nonna è stato premiato con un Premio Speciale ai TheFork Awards 2022 per “avere dimostrato la forza e la brillantezza nel chiudere una lunga esperienza di 25 anni e rimettersi in discussione con un progetto altrettanto ambizioso e ricco”,  Chic Nonna (Stella Michelin) offre un menu alla carta e due menu degustazione, oltre a una proposta di vini in abbinamento.

Ho incontrato Vito Mollica per una simpatica intervista

Salve Vito, il suo primo ricordo in cucina?
Da subito, da piccolo. La mia era una famiglia contadina e l’attività casalinga si  svolgeva soratutto in cucina: tante zie intente a cucinare, camino acceso, la “pignata”  di fianco con l’ordine di non toccarla mai, visto che , come tutti i bambini , avevo sempre fame ed ero curiosissimo.

Quando è scattata la scintilla professionale?
In diverse “fasi”: la prima prima a vent’anni, quando frequentavo la scuola a Casargo , in provincia di  Lecco. Lì mi sono innamorato della vita del cuoco,  del fascino del viaggio, della possibilità di girare il mondo e conoscere culture e persone diverse.

Poi la fase milanese nel ristorante Mauro, dove si serviva tantissimo pesce fresco,  pwr proseguire nei grandi alberghi a Genova e Amsterdam dove avevo raggiunto una posizione di responsabilità. La scintilla “stellata” è arrivata a Londra per poi guidarmi a Firenze, una città che mi ha accolto in un modo bellissimo. Ho vissuto un lungo periodo con il gruppo Four Seasons con cui ho avuto la fortuna di aprire anche una bellissima struttura strutture a Praga di cui sono follemente innamorato anche perchè li sono nati i miei due figli

C’è un piatto a cui è particolarmente legato ?
Una pietanza veramente casalinga: i “cautarogni” di mia mamma Carmela, un tipo di pasta stascinata fatta a mano, mentre se penso a uno chef celebre ,mi viene in mente il meraviglioso capretto di Cesare GIaccone.
Uno dei suoi piatti preferiti?
I cavatelli cacio e pepe, insaporiti da gamberi rossi e calamaretti.

Se non fosse diventato chef…
(ride) Avrei fatto il cuoco!

LA RICETTA DI VITO MOLLICA
Cavatelli cacio e pepe, gamberi rossi e calamaretti spillo marinati
Per 4 persone

English version

FLORENCE, ITALY
Our next destination is the splendid Palazzo Portinari Salviati, Beatrice’s birthplace. We will discover a truly stellar “gourmet” world that houses the Sala Beatrice, the multifunctional space created to host private events and business meetings, the Salotto Portinari Bar & Bistrot dominated by the original statue of Cosimo 1 dei Medici, which houses a restaurant business lunch or an informal dinner, a cocktail bar for a signature drink and cafeteria, even just to sip an excellent coffee.

Select, raspberry mousse, orange and pear: a drink created by Dennis, barman of the Salotto Portinari:

Finally, the starred restaurant Chic Nonna by Vito Mollica, inside the frescoed Corte degli Imperatori, full of frescoes, mosaics, mighty columns and a historic fountain in the center of the room, in short, a breathtaking environment, where the waiting staff will accompany you to your table.

Chic Nonna was awarded a Special Prize at TheFork Awards 2022 for “having demonstrated the strength and brilliance in closing a long 25-year experience and challenging itself with an equally ambitious and rich project”, Chic Nonna (Michelin star) offers an à la carte menu and two tasting menus, as well as a proposal for paired wines.

The “amouse bouche” by Chef Vito Mollica, including an exquisite kiss of lady with pumpkin and lemongrass
A very delicate raw scallop with turnip tops and Annurca apple

I met Vito Mollica for a nice interview

Hi Vito, your first memory in the kitchen?
From the very beginning, as a child. Mine was a peasant family and the household activity took place mainly in the kitchen: many aunts intent on cooking, a fireplace lit, the “pignata” next to them with the order never to touch it, since, like all children, I had always hungry and was very curious.

A “waterfall” of pomegranate risotto served on wild hare and salted pistachio
When did the professional spark strike?
In various “phases”: the first was when I was twenty, when I attended school in Casargo, in the province of Lecco. There I fell in love with the life of a cook, with the fascination of travel, with the possibility of traveling the world and getting to know different cultures and people.

Grilled pigeon, corn and blueberries. Dish faithful to the “no waste” philosophy where everything is used, even the chicken livers served on polenta

Then the Milanese phase in the Mauro restaurant, where a lot of fresh fish was served,  pwr continue in the big hotels in Genoa, Amsterdam where I had reached a position of responsibility, The “starry” spark arrived  in London to then guide me to Florence, a city I welcomed in a beautiful way. I lived for a long time with the Four Seasons group with which I was lucky enough to also open a beautiful structure in Prague with which I am madly in love also because my two children were born there

Mandarin jelly on crunchy hazelnut and caramel

Is there a dish you are particularly attached to?
A truly homemade dish: my mother Carmela’s “cautarogni”, a type of hand-made pasta, while if I think of a famous chef, Cesare GIaccone’s wonderful kid comes to mind.
One of his favorite dishes of his?
Cacio e pepe cavatelli, flavored with red prawns and baby squid.

If he hadn’t become a chef …
(laughs) I would have been a cook!

VITO MOLLICA’S RECIPE
Cacio e pepe cavatelli, red prawns and marinated pin squid
For 4 people

Text and pjotos by Cesare Zucca BOM (good in Brazilian) plus MAKI (the roll of Japanese cuisine) equals BOMAKI the new nippo-brasilian cuisie that is scoring all over Italy. Last night I went to theopening for the new Bomaki Navigli, tin he trendiest ” movida” and “food” area in Milan. One hundred seats between the internal hall and the welcoming external dehor overlooking the Naviglio, which allows you to taste the goodness of the Bomaki offer in an environment characterized by extremely refined furnishing elements. Let’s adventure in luxuriant tropical forests and ceramic azulejos that recall the South American atmosphere. Exotic accents meet natural details in a kind of “urban escape” in the metropolis, where the menu boasts a Brazilian, Japanese and European foods can be enjoyed in a colorful environment, full of details reminiscent of South America . …………. The menu is extensive and satisfies all tastes, in fact, in addition to the vast choice of uramaki, you can try different varieties of tartare and carpaccio or more “street” formats such as burritos and meat and fish tacos. These delights can be combined with excellent typical Brazilian cocktails such as caipirinha, caipiroska, exotic mojitos, all with flavors ranging from mango to passion fruit and for the more traditional customers of craft beer, “Branquinha”, created specifically for Bomaki by the Brewery of Legnano. I met The CEO of Bomaki Giuseppe Grasso who told me: “Bomaki Navigli represents an important step for the company because it covers a very strategic area of Milan and, in fact, completes our coverage on the city. The restaurant has enormous potential, both for the position we have chosen and for its internal architecture which is able to enhance the peculiarities of our food & drink offer and to keep the promise that we make to our customers every day: “ The chef and partner Jeric Bautista, brings taste and creativity to the gastronomic proposal is one of Bomaki’s strengths, the dishes are constantly evolving and keep faith with tradition, aromas and colors of Brazil. The visual impact is the first step of the culinary experience, a fundamental element for Japanese cuisine which is combined with the chromatic Brazilian gastronomy.

CASONCELLI, the “ambassadors of Bergamo cuisine”
The real “kings” of the table are the casoncelli, created in the Upper Town way back in 1386, on the occasion of a celebration for two thousand people in which “chopping boards full of artibotuli, otherwise called casoncelli” were offered, therefore a dish that encompasses history, tradition and culture .

I met a true expert of Bergamo cuisine, the “Starred King” Enrico “Chicco” Cerea who, with his brothers Bobo and Francesco and with his sisters Rossella and Barbara is at the helm of the famous restaurant “Da Vittorio” emblazoned with three Michelin stars.

 Hello Chicco, how does the cuisine of “Da Vittorio” honor “culture”?
It goes without saying that being able to pass on tradition thanks to the kitchen is already making culture. Passing on one’s knowledge to one’s collaborators, allowing them to explore issues related to products, etiquette at the table and creating an Academy to study specific topics such as management, coffee, wines, etc.

Can we define it as a “passion” for food?
Absolutely, a passion that comes from afar…
And then my true, almost secret passion that I have had since I was a child: desserts, which for me are the subject of exciting elaborations and limitless experimentation and represent an intimate commitment and a point of reference both for the creation of new trends for the reinterpretation of great classic desserts.

Your first encounter with traditional dishes?
I was lucky enough to have been born and raised in a family of restaurateurs and therefore with the possibility of trying particular and traditional dishes since I was a child. I have the utmost respect for the dishes of memory, I find that it is a way of transmitting and making culture, as well as what you can tell your customers every day.
Your first memory in the kitchen?
When I went to the home of a great aunt, who lived in Ambivere, a small village near Bergamo, but she was the head of a group of housewives from Bergamo, in charge of preparing the casoncello for the usual village festival. They boasted that it was the best casoncello in the Bergamo area. I didn’t have the technical knowledge skills I have now in the gastronomic field, but I certainly still have a vivid memory of these fantastic casoncelli.

What struck you the most?
The scent of sizzling butter, combined with that of slightly crunchy bacon and sage. The flavor of the cheese and the softness of the filling with the consistency of the thick paste, which she invited to be continuously tasted.
She made my mouth water. Can you tell us about “his” recipe for casoncelli from Bergamo?
With pleasure, here you go!

CASONCELLI ALLA BERGAMASCA

Ingredients for the dough:

400 g soft wheat flour
100 g re-milled durum wheat semolina
2 whole eggs
Approximately 120 g of warm water
Salt to taste
Olive oil to taste

Dough execution:
Work the flours with the eggs, a pinch of salt and a drizzle of oil, adding a little water at a time until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough.
Leave to rest for about 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Filling ingredients:

100 g salami paste
100 g minced pork
50 g of butter
Macaroon QB
50 g abate pears (sieved to reduce to pulp)
1 egg
10 g sultana raisins
50 g Parmesan cheese
Nutmeg to taste
Salt and Pepper To Taste
Chopped parsley

Execution of the filling:

Melt the butter in a pan, brown the salami paste and minced pork previously salted and peppered, after a few minutes add the chopped parsley.
Transfer the mixture into a saucepan, add the pears, amaretto, egg, previously chopped sultanas, Parmesan cheese and nutmeg; work until obtaining a homogeneous mixture.
Fix salt and pepper.

Ingredients:

100 g mountain butter
100 g grated Parmesan cheese
50 g bacon from Bergamo
Fresh sage

Preparation
Roll out the dough, with the help of a mold form discs of about 2 cm in diameter, fill with the filling and close in a half-moon shape.
Cook the casoncelli in abundant salted water and season with melted mountain butter, fresh sage and bacon from Bergamo and Parmesan cheese.
I

Ristorante: Da Vittorio

Indirizzo: via Cantalupa, 17 – 24060 – Brusaporto (Bergamo)

Tel.: +39 035 681024

Web: davittorio.com

E-mail: info@davittorio.com

I CASONCELLI , gli “ambasciatori della cucina bergamasca” raccontati da ENRICO CEREA, 3 Stelle Michelin ” Da Vittorio” Brusaporto, Bergamo, Italy
I veri “re” della tavola sono i casoncelli, creati in Città Alta nel lontano 1386,  in occasione di una  per duemila persone nella quale vennero offerti «taglieri ricolmi di artibotuli, altrimenti detti casoncelli” dunque un piatto che racchiude storia, tradizione e cultura.

Ho incontrato un vero esperto della cucina bergamasca, il “Re Stellato” Enrico “Chicco” Cerea che, con i fratelli Bobo e Francesco e con le sorelle Rossella e Barbara è al timone del celebre ristorante “Da Vittorio” blasonato da tre Stelle Michelin.

Buongiorno Chicco come onora la “cultura” la cucina di “Da Vittorio”?
Va da sé che poter tramandare grazie alla cucina la tradizione è già fare cultura. Il trasmettere le proprie conoscenze ai propri collaboratori permettendo loro di approfondire tematiche sui prodotti, sul bon ton a tavola e creando della Academy per studiare specifiche tematiche vedi management, caffè, vini eccetera…
Possiamo definirla una “passione” per il cibo?
Assolutamente si, una passione che viene da lontano…
E poi la mia vera, quasi segreta passione che ho di fin da bambino: i dolci, che per me sono oggetto di esaltanti elaborazioni e di sperimentazione senza limiti e rappresentano un intimo impegno e un punto di riferimento sia per la creazione di nuove tendenze che per la reinterpretazione di grandi dessert classici.
Il suo primo incontro con i piatti della tradizione?
Ho avuto la fortuna di essere nato e cresciuto in una famiglia di ristoratori e quindi con la possibilità fin da bambino di provare piatti particolari e della tradizione. Ho il massimo rispetto per i piatti della memoria, trovo che sia un trasmettere e fare cultura, oltre anche a quello che puoi raccontare ogni giorno ai tuoi clienti.
Il suo primo ricordo in cucina ?
Quando andavo a casa di una prozia, che abitava ad Ambivere, un paesino vicino a Bergamo, ma era a capo di un gruppo di massaie di Bergamo, preposte alla preparazione del casoncello per la consueta festa del paese. Loro si vantavano fosse il più buon casoncello della bergamasca. Non avevo allora le capacità di conoscenza tecnica che ho ora nel campo gastronomico, ma di certo ho ancora vivo il ricordo di questi fantastici casoncelli.
Cosa la colpiva maggiormente ?
Il profumo del burro che sfrigolava, unito a quello della pancetta leggermente croccante e della salvia. La sapidità del formaggio e la morbidezza del ripieno con la consistenza della pasta spessa, che invitava ad essere continuamente degustata.
Mi ha fatto venire l’ acquolina in bocca. Ci racconta la “sua “ ricetta dei casoncelli bergamaschi?
Con piacere, eccola!

CASONCELLI ALLA BERGAMASCA
Ingredienti per la pasta:

• 400 g farina di grano tenero
• 100 g semola di grano duro rimacinata
• 2 uova intere
• 120 g d’acqua tiepida circa
• Sale QB
• Olio d’oliva QB

Esecuzione impasto:
Lavorare le farine con uova, pizzico di sale e un filo d’olio aggiungendo poca acqua alla volta fino ad ottenere un impasto liscio ed omogeneo.
Lasciar riposare per circa 1 ora in frigorifero.

Ingredienti ripieno:

• 100 g pasta di salame
• 100 g carne maiale macinata
• 50 g di burro
• Amaretto QB
• 50 g pere abate (passate a setaccio ridotta a polpa)
• 1 uovo
• 10 g uvetta sultanina
• 50 g parmigiano reggiano
• Noce moscata QB
• Sale e pepe QB
• Prezzemolo trito

Esecuzione del ripieno:

Sciogliere il burro in un tegame, rosolare la pasta di salame e carne di maiale macinata precedentemente salata e pepata, dopo qualche minuto aggiungere prezzemolo trito.
Trasferire il composto in un tegame, unire pere, amaretto, uovo, uva sultanina precedentemente tritata, parmigiano reggiano e noce moscata; lavorare fino ad ottenere un impasto omogeneo.
Sistemare di sale e pepe.

Ingredienti:

• 100 g burro di montagna
• 100 g parmigiano reggiano grattugiato
• 50 g pancetta bergamasca
• Salvia fresca

Preparazione
Stendere la pasta, con l’aiuto di uno stampo formare dei dischi di circa 2 cm di diametro, farcire con ripieno e chiudere a mezzaluna.
Cuocere i casoncelli in abbondante acqua salata e condire con burro fuso di montagna, salvia fresca e pancetta bergamasca e parmigiano reggiano.

By Cesare Zucca

The Italian furniture industry produces many collections that are popular with other nations. 10% of all furniture manufactured globally is Italian. Buyers flock to the Milan Furniture Fair (Salone del Mobile) each year to place orders.

Superficially speaking, what we recognize as a “design style” is a set of particular colour harmonies, typefaces, compositional styles…But on a higher level, design styles usually carry with them certain principles of what the goals of design are, and techniques for how to accomplish those goals

Modern interior design reigns as the most popular home style in 32 states, according to a new study from Confused.com, a home comparison site. Modern interior design is characterized by a monochromatic color palette, clean lines, minimalism and natural finishes.

Although always the cradle of high-quality craftsmanship, Italy has been massively influential in the timeline of furniture design–especially throughout the 20th century. Between the 1920s and 1930s, Italian rationalism seamlessly formed a relation with the technical and aesthetic experimentations of the European avant-garde on one side and with the Fascist regime’s need for self-representation on the other. Italian design took a turn during the 1960’s and 1970’s towards radicalism, inspired by Pop Art: soon, terms like “Bel Design” and “Linea Italiana” appeared in vocabularies across the country. These changes were powered by an era of Italian designers, inspired to test out new materials and forms and break the boundaries of four-legged chairs and tables.