29-12-2017
Gualtiero Marchesi portrayed by Matteo Cherubino
Gualtiero Marchesi (Milan, 19th March 1930 - Milan, 26th December 2017), the Maestro of Italian cuisine died on the 26th of December at around 6 pm. He had been sick for some time. Identità Golose sends its condolences to his family
Gualtiero Marchesi was not suited for decadence. His figure was too prominent, his ego too strong, his role too important in the history of Italian cuisine for the Maestro – this is how he was called and he charmingly enjoyed being called – to peacefully accept that he was put aside, considered for his past but neglected for his present. So sometimes he exaggerated, he looked for visibility – following bad advice – that had nothing to do with his prestige. He sought attention and, not getting it, he got it, buy clumsily. The fault also goes to Italy, which did not cut him out a special role as the noble father of our fine dining – as perhaps it should have.
A famous photo of Gualtiero Marchesi. Andrea Berton, one of the many pupils who learnt the foundations of cuisine from the Maestro, is in the top right corner
Gualtiero Marchesi speaks with Gianluca Fusto at Identità Milano 2015
Marchesi on his 86th birthday in 2016
Gualtiero Marchesi and Ezio Santin: two friends and masters of Italian fine dining, respectively the first and the second chef to get three stars. This photo is from Identità Expo, where they participated in Rai’s The Cooking Show. See our Double interview with Marchesi-Santin
Young Marchesi in front of the entrance to the family restaurant, Al Mercato in Via Bezzecca, in Milan
When his parents left the restaurant they used to run in Via Bezzecca, in 1969, [where Mario Monicelli, Giovanni Testori, Gianni Agnelli, Luchino Visconti, Federico Fellini, Francesco Monzino used to go], «I wanted to travel around Italy: three months in every region to learn the various traditions and grow, improve myself. I didn’t do it. But I think it was good that I at least thought of it, I knew I had to work in this direction».
Gualtiero Marchesi in Via Bonvesin de la Riva in 1980
A historic brigade in Bonvesin de la Riva
Risotto oro e zafferano. He upturned the rules of traditional risotto by placing a leaf of edible gold on top of it
Raviolo aperto, «it’s basically a creative blasphemy because it’s like a single portion lasagna» (Paolo Marchi). “Raviolo aperto shows, above all, a changing of roles: a light veil of pasta, through which one can see a leaf of parsley, hides (and limits to a subordinate position) “noble” ingredients which should have had more importance given their culinary status... Pasta becomes the distinctive element: apart from the appearance, the most important fascinating element is this symbolic new arrangement, with a meaningful title which, in fact, only mentions the heterodox ravioli”. Gualtiero Marchesi, La cuisine italienne réinventée, Paris, Laffont, 1983
Insalata di spaghetti al caviale: «My greatest masterpiece»
Dripping di pesce (2004): inspired by Jackson Pollock and his colour-dripping technique. The base is a light mayonnaise, enriched with white calamari and clams, the red is given by tomatoes. The black, instead, is squid ink mayonnaise and the green comes from parsley chlorophyll with mayonnaise. Photo by Borchi
Il Rosso e il Nero, a monkfish dish inspired by the works of Lucio Fontana
Dining with the Maestro. This is what happened during Identità Golose in Milan, in February 2013, when Carlo Cracco, to the left, invited two more pupils of Gualtiero Marchesi, Enrico Crippa and Paolo Lopriore. To the right, Matteo Baronetto who a few months later left Cracco’s restaurant to become chef at Cambio in Torino
Marchesi with the brigade at Albereta, 1999
A recent photo of the Maestro with three of his Marchesi Boys: Berton, Oldani and Cracco
Paolo Lopriore, Gualtiero Marchesi and Paolo Marchi at Identità Milano 2015
Quattro Paste: was created by Marchesi in 2000, after a show by Andy Warhol and seeing his famous serigraphy in four parts of Marylin Monroe. It was his reflection on pasta, its shape and texture, so as to best enjoy wheat
Gualtiero Marchesi portrayed at Marchesino in Piazza della Scala in Milan
Identità Milano 2007: Gualtiero Marchesi receives a tribute from Pierre Troisgros, an untouchable giant of French cuisine. Identità Golose found this photo to celebrate the Maestro’s 85th birthday, in 2015
«People sometimes say my name is mentioned as a possible senator for life. I would like it, and you know why? Not for me, I promise: but it would be an important proof of attention for Italian cuisine» (Gualtiero Marchesi)
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journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief