Nadia, Antonio e Giovanni Santini

Dal Pescatore

località Runate
Canneto sull'Oglio (Mantova)
T. +39.0376.723001
santini@dalpescatore.com

LEGGI LA SCHEDA SULLA GUIDA 2019

Nadia Santini is the unquestioned queen of the Italian kitchen, and not only Italian: it was the French, in fact, who crowned her as the best chef on the planet. Originally from Veneto, she met Antonio Santini (close-up in the photo) while at university in Milan: he was the son of two innkeepers who were very close to their land and its waters, those of the Mincio river. Like her in-laws, Nadia draws her strength, from a profound religiosity and ethic respect for man-client, and also from the traditions of her adopted land.

Having transformed the family tavern, specialised in small fried fish, into a luxury restaurant, the menu follows, always and totally, the territory, changing according to the season. The challenge in the work of this chef, who has in her husband an extraordinary interpreter of the rites of service, is in fact the lack of surprises in the menu, as she refuses to resort to special effects, use coaxing raw materials or second current trends. Should she ever offer a Po Valley version of sushi, be sure that it would be after finding the recipe in some treatise from the Eighteenth century, hidden in a dusty local archive.

So if you find Tortelli di zucca in the menu, they are those you can eat a few kilometres from there, at least at first glance. The care she puts in selecting the raw materials (the vegetable garden is between the garden and the river) and her profound knowledge on the topic, make them unique. If you consider that today it’s their son Giovanni (also in the photo), who makes the tortelli and is already among the most important signatures in Italian cuisine, you can understand that this dynasty is destined to have no limits in time.

Has participated in

Identità London, Identità Milano


by

Paolo Marchi

born in Milan in March 1955, at Il Giornale for 31 years dividing himself between sports and food, since 2004 he's the creator and curator of Identità Golose.
blog www.paolomarchi.it
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