03-04-2020
Riccardo Camanini, patron-chef at Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera (Brescia). With his brother Giancarlo, every morning at 11 he calls the entire brigade on Skype, all at home, for three hours, so they can share ideas, hopes, outlooks, and projects for the future
The daily cathartic moment, the ritual that almost purifies the mind – as if it were an apotropaic moment of reflection and sharing, exchange and community – is every morning at 11, since the first day of this damned emergency. «I’m lucky enough to live only a few steps from Lido 84. So I go to the restaurant and from there, together with my brother Giancarlo we connect via Skype with our brigade», 23 people scattered around north Italy, «many are in fact only a few metres away, because they stayed in the flats where they lived when we were open. Others have returned home, and call from there», hence Mantua, Milan, Piacenza, Bergamo, Modena... The virtual meeting point of these places far apart – connected by the common drama we’re all experiencing, as well as by their projects for the future – is Gardone Riviera, chez (and chef) Riccardo Camanini.
Lido 84 seen from the lake
This photo was taken on the 31st of December with the staff
Riccardo and Giancarlo Camanini
Camanini at Identità Golose
«Food trains us to be with others, to understand others. It’s in society, in sharing an objective, that you can create the necessary strength so that the country can get back on its feet»
And then: «We discuss craftmanship. We will soften some aspects that can make people uneasy in future conviviality: there are things that were once adequate, and will seem out of place now. Aside from this, we hope that – for everyone – we can remain hopeful, and look ahead. We try to define an evolution that is more and more attentive to people. What I’m sure of is that we need to express ourselves. In fact, we need to start again to express ourselves». Even by making an effort to be optimistic, «because food trains us to be with others, to understand others. It’s in the society, in sharing an objective, that you can create the necessary strength so that the country can get back on its feet».
This is what Riccardo Camanini thinks. And in the meantime he keeps some books on his bedside table: Alberto Moravia’s La donna leopardo, Christian Puglisi’s Relae. Un libro di idee and a book on kaiseki cuisine, and also Bartolomeo Scappi’s Opera, Plinius the Old’s Naturalis historia... He smiles: «I’m a messy reader, I move from one book to the next». Because you must also think out of the box.
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
Reviews, recommendations and trends from Italy, signed by all the authors of Identità Golose
by
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