Pepe for charity

Is good in fashion? One could say so, at least at Christmas. There was a queue – dozens of people in the waiting list, a result that largely exceeded expectations, sold out, of course – a few hours ago in Caiazzo, where something double good went on stage: good as the pizzas of Franco Pepe, the man that made this village near Caserta become a gourmet destination thanks to his super-pizzeria Pepe in Grani; and good as the motivations of this Sunday lunch-event, strongly desired by Pepe himself in order to give a concrete help to non profit organisation Sorridi Konou Konou Africa onlus.

A nice story. A story that starts in Campania and reaches Benin, a small state in Western Africa, with all the problems troubling the area. Here, this association has been operating for a long time, presided by professor Enrico Di Salvo, the director of the Specialised Surgery, Nephrology Department of Integrated Activities at Federico II hospital in Naples. By chance, a girl from Caiazzo, Antonietta Perrone, worked in the same department, as a clinical engineer: hence the contact and the beginning of this collaboration, three months ago... through a pizza, created by Pepe for this occasion: SorridiAfrica, with a rich topping in which the master pizza-chef wanted to «recall the colours of that land: brown, yellow…», he explains at Identità Golose. And thus: olive pâté, capers, cream of pepper, dried tomatoes and cheese from the Matese area, a well balanced, incredible mix of flavours that delighted the hundred people or so who participated yesterday. The rest was done thanks to the stories told by the managers at Sorridi Konou Konou Africa onlus: the illustration of the milestones reached and of the goals set for 2015/17, besides a projection of the photographs taken by Luciana Latte and collected during various missions (the one that has just ended was the 15th in Benin). These photos gave life, last year, to a show too, which took place inside Palazzo delle Arti in Naples, and was titled The Innocent; to complete the project, a homonymous book was also published by Idelson Gnocchi in which, on top of the photos, there are five short essays by Di Salvo telling the story of this group of volunteers operating since 2000 in health, education, assistance to the orphans, social development.

Moreover, Pepe’s commitment did not end yesterday. Pizza SorridiAfrica, in the menu since three months ago, will stay there for a very long time, one year in all, and 70% of the proceedings will always go to charity Sorridi Konou Konou Africa. While on December 22nd the pizza chef will be at work in Milan, in an unprecedented pair with chef Cesare Battisti in the latter’s restaurant Ratanà: they will cook for the poor, for those who cannot afford a real Christmas lunch, thanks to the collaboration with Opera San Francesco.

Franco Pepe ends: «For me, this is a beautiful moment professionally. It is for this reason that I believe one should look at the less fortunate. Truly, I also do it for myself: being able to help the others makes me feel better, it makes me face life’s obstacles with more serenity». So many good things in Caiazzo.