Thou shalt have no other pizzas before me

The profound meaning of PizzaUp 2014, the technical symposium on pizza that ended a few hours ago, is a strong declaration of diversity from all the mediocrity that is well-spread in the ovens and from the recent consequent polemics, largely fabricated and which have painfully tended to uniform different realities in an overall judgement. The 58 pizza chefs opted out: they do not make a muck. In fact, they are the standard-bearers of a pizza in which quality starts from the dough, continues with the baking and finishes with the topping, «even though someone should tells us why we have to use this word, topping, for the condiment of an Italian dish», Gabriele Zanatta observed during the round table that preceded the designation of the Pizza Italia 2015, the delicious established evidence that excellence lives here, that balance and lightness are a heritage of this new gourmand “disc” more than of many classic versions: it paired Petra 1 flour and mother yeast in the dough, all this topped by mackerel in oil, potatoes, black cabbage, dry thyme, oregano, basil plus the slightly bitter touch of black olives closing the game in a perfect aromatic match (among its authors, there was also 26-year-old Alberto Morello, of pizzeria Gigi Pipa in the very close by Este: he will be a speaker at Identità Milano).

So no more shyness, «we have no faults from which we should defend ourselves, we have nothing from which we should be defended. We need to fight so that the value of what we do is acknowledged», Simone Padoan, a bit of a leader in this world, proudly asserted, resulting in ovations and frenetic hand-clapping. Report left a sour taste in our mouths, not for the programme itself – which of course did not touch signature cuisine, the excellence in pizza. The one represented by PizzaUp, that is – even though the inevitable, apathetic aftermath that followed had the tendency of putting everything together: the good and the bad, those who cheat and those who, on the contrary, follow quality with determination.

We saw the same determination during these three days when some excellent professionals, both young or a little greyer, took some time from their work and their private lives in order to study the principles of thermodynamics and the golden rules of digestibility, communication methods and material structures: because – as pointed out by “host” Chiara Quaglia – modern, creative pizza chefs, just like all chefs, have to be fully prepared and attend professional training courses such as this. In other words, on top of “generic” good flavour, pizza chefs has to guarantee consumers also healthiness, lightness and even information, that is to say the illustration of what they’re preparing. After all, in the words of Piero Gabrieli, once again the soul of PizzaUp - «saying that artisanal pizza is dangerous, without any distinction, means opening the doors wide on frozen products, the kind that cost a few euros, and are worth as much». This is what annoyed the most, of some investigations: the indiscriminate accusation, the fact it was only meant at artisans, without touching the strong industrial interests. And, on the other hand, as pointed out, it is ridiculous that «a 40-hour training course is sufficient to open a pizzeria». Therefore one needs to study and communicate, study and communicate.

Those at PizzaUp discussed at length how to let consumers know the reason behind their excellence, how to recognise high quality pizza. This also resulted in a reality-film titled “La farina e il fuoco” [Flour and fire] presented by Francesca Romana Barberini and directed by Silvia Chiodin, which will be soon available in a full-length-film or in seven shorter episodes.