QUALITALY_132

December/Januar y 2023 VII MAGAZINE I come from Sigillo, a small town in the province of Perugia. I trained at the Spoleto hotel school and during my career I first gained experience in local restaurants, then I did a few seasons at Carducci 76 in Cattolica, which had one star in those years. Following this experience I was at the Parco San Marco di Lugano and at the Intercontinental in Rome, a five-star luxury hotel. After a further period in a local restaurant, I got the call at the Hotel Bagni Nuovi in Bormio, where I stayed for two and a half years, first as head of the main courses, then as second chef. From there I never left Valtellina. I went there to do one season and stayed longer, until Fabio Giacomelli , one of the owners of Lungo Livigno, contacted me personally to work at the Grand Hotel della Posta in Sondrio. Then COVID came along. At that time I joined the Sondrio hospital as an attendant, to help out. Once the premises were reopened, I resumed the project at the Grand Hotel della Posta , but already during the second wave Giacomelli proposed a new challenge: to take over the kitchen of the Hotel Concordia in Livigno, where I am still the chef today. WHY WAS IT A CHALLENGE? The Concordia is a hotel offering half board: a traditional hotel whose restaurant worked mainly for the hotel, and not for external guests. It needed to grow in this sense and that’s why I was called in. Over the past year and a half, thanks to the support of the Giacomelli family, who gave me carte blanche across the board, we have been expanding it until the opening of our flagship, Stua Noa Fine Dining . It is an exclusive restaurant with five tables, where we offer two tasting menus: the Concordia Experience, freestyle, and the Mountain Experience, preselected. In the two menus there are dishes that fully reflect the region, because we prepare char, the cheeses come from local dairies... but contaminated with ideas taken from world cuisines. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A CHEF WHO TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS IN CENTRAL ITALY TO MEASURE HIMSELF AGAINST A CUISINE AS DIVERSE AS THAT OF THE MOUNTAINS? When I arrived here I used to make different dishes, then the company trained me, introduced me to the local products, and slowly my cuisine took on its current form. I am very satisfied with the result we have achieved: now the Concordia has a very varied food offering, ranging from the bar, which has a streamlined menu, within everyone’s reach, to the half-board restaurant, which has a cuisine tailored to the needs of hotel guests, and finally to fine dining, for those who want to enjoy a classy experience. WHAT IS INVOLVED IN MANAGING KITCHENS WITH SUCH DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS? It’s not easy: I may find myself having to manage 70 settings at the same time in the half-board with maybe a few outside tables, around 30 people at the bar and 20 in the fine dining area... You need very good organisation and a high-level staff. Staff are essential: without a good brigade, working in a well-coordinated manner, you get nowhere. As far as I’m concerned, I run the whole thing, but I also get involved myself. HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR CUISINE? It’s a cuisine for the eyes and stomach: beautiful to look at, good, but essential. Dishes are composed of just a few, clearly identifiable ingredients. Everything starts with excellent ingredients, with preparation that enhances it instead of covering it up. The ingredients must be good, fresh and high quality. But I don’t despise poor ingredients. YOU’RE STILL VERY YOUNG. HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF FIVE YEARS FROM NOW? I aim to get a Michelin star, or the green star, which rewards sustainability. But that’s not my primary goal. The first is making my customer feel good. The rest will come. If I look ahead I imagine myself as executive chef of a hotel chain: that could be a good goal. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN HOTEL CUISINE? Yes. I think that compared to ‘restaurant’ cuisine, hotel work is the most complete, because it ranges from breakfasts to half-board, to banquets, to gourmet. Hotel cuisine involves large numbers. This stimulates me a lot. AND TO A YOUNG PERSON WHO WANTS TO ENTER THE WORLD OF COOKING, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE?