Aristocratic recipes, a kitchen open 22 hours a day: we dined at Viviana Varese's Passalacqua

A fascinating challenge in a unique place: the most beautiful hotel in the world where, when you enter the accommodation that will host you for the night, you are greeted by the waiter bringing you a few snacks, by the florist filling the room with colour and fragrance, by the housekeeper dedicated to checking that everything is impeccable. We are at Passalacqua on Lake Como, first place in The World's 50 Best Hotels. To bring the level of cuisine in line with the rest, the owners - the De Santis family - decided to call in a chef of guaranteed value. Or rather, a female chef: Viviana Varese. For her, a change of life and perspective. If we ask her what convinced her to embark on this adventure, she replies confidently: ‘I want to live fully what I like doing. This is a job that gives me continuous stimulation and adrenalin, otherwise I would be watching TV all day long.’

She has watched little television in recent months. Viviana is an experienced toque, accustomed for years to dealing with a thousand organisational and logistical problems. Hotel Passalacqua, however, is an entirely new dimension. It is a luxurious and graceful mastodon, where everything must be perfect: 125 employees for 24 rooms (rooms? No way: magnificent suites) in an 18th-century villa - Villa Lucini Passalacqua, here is a bit of its history - which hosted Napoleon Bonaparte and Winston Churchill, where Vincenzo Bellini composed Norma and La Sonnambula, with a park dotted with centuries-old trees covering an area of around six hectares and characterised by ten terraces sloping down towards the water. What kind of cuisine should they serve in such a unique place, evoking an olden days atmosphere, reminding one of the 'Italian vacations' of the European aristocracy at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries? In her 17 years in Milan, divided between Alice and Viva, Varese developed a very personal, Mediterranean style; for her new adventure, however, she has decided to bring with her some dishes that are now part of her repertoire (the mouth-watering Pasta e patate, for example); but, for the rest, to change perspective, to adjust the gastronomic offer to the ambience of a sumptuous and refined grand hotel: hence the idea of recovering old aristocratic recipes, from the French grandeur to the Sicilian monsù. And to update them, always with a signature touch, never as a dusty replica, and giving them an Italian soul when needed.

It is an ambitious work of rediscovery and reinterpretation that at the time of writing has only just begun. When fully operational, we think of it as a cornucopia of pithivier and gattò, whole lobsters (in Marsala) and timbale, aspic and pâté en croûte, giant babas with armagnac and crêpe suzette, soufflés and cassatas: not didactic

Meanwhile, Viviana slaves away. The complexity of the work she has offered to carry out leaves her no time to devote to anything else. ‘I feel like I'm on a long underwater dive. The world above is its own thing, while I am focused on my work, because there are so many things to sort out.’ She started on the 18^th of March, the day she signed the kitchen offer, but in reality she began at least three months earlier ‘to study the new format so that it would be effective and in focus immediately. I wanted to build everything up and set out on the right path. This is a microcosm with a thousand aspects to take care of,’ up and down between the dining room and the stoves, and then breakfasts, and the restaurant by the pool, and the delicacies for the guests of the private villa by the lake, and many other things. ‘I'm averaging 25,000 steps a day,’ that's a lot. The kitchen closes at 2 a.m., when the last of the pastry chefs start the preparations for the next day; it reopens after only 120 minutes, at 4 a.m., to organise breakfast (in the short night stop, cold dishes are still available for guests).

We mentioned the breakfast: it’s very rich, spectacular, for this writer it has no equal in Italy. Two dining rooms full of delicacies: dozens of exceptional cheese varieties, a selection of the finest cold cuts (‘real’ bresaola, 'nduja, pancetta Giovanna, prosciutto, coppa, salami), tomato tarte tatin, savoury pies, tortilla, salmon, anchovies, tuna, bottarga, eggs to be prepared at the moment for any possible variation, French toast. The sweet part includes croissants, brioche, and beautiful cakes baked in antique specially-researched moulds. Fruit. An exaltation of gluttony, ‘it's a bit like Babette's lunch. I want to add gateaux and vegetable aspic soon. Everyone goes crazy.’

Right from the morning, it is the transposition of what Varese has in mind to offer - and is already offering – for every delicious moment at Passalacqua. That is, the food of the aristocracy, the cuisine of the monsù, of the great transalpine maisons. ‘Things that are a bit time-consuming to prepare, laborious, perhaps ancient, but charming nonetheless. Things no one prepares anymore, neither at home nor at the restaurant.’ A common thread inspired by France and beyond: from Sicily to Spain, Naples, and London. The aim is to make the restaurant an attraction in its own right, apart from the fame now acquired by the Passalacqua as an ultra-luxury hotel. ‘We’re getting organised. The apparatus is huge, we must make sure that everything is taken care of and that we don’t miss the necessary creativity because of the amount of work.’ The kitchen staff comprises around 20 people, including some of the chef's most faithful collaborators.

They must take care of many other aspects besides the main restaurant. We’ve already mentioned breakfast. Then there are the amenities in the suites, the lunch serving 16 different dishes than in the evening, the dessert trolley for snacks, the wine tastings in the cellar, the many masterclasses offered to guests (cocktails, pizza, pasta, ice cream, wine...), the management of the boats with three dedicated picnic menus, the night gourmet pampering service. Events, weddings... And the other restaurant between the swimming pool and the garden, serving raw fish, veal in tuna sauce, fried food, cordon bleu, pizza... Here, as soon as the weather allows, Varese intends to reintroduce the Fuoco format - i.e. raw preparations on the grill or in the wood-fired oven - that has already been a great success at Villadorata in Sicily, as we have written about.

'To do all this, I have an extraordinary travelling companion,' says Varese. Her name is Valentina De Santis, and together with her parents Paolo and Antonella (a family of hotel entrepreneurs, they also own the iconic Grand Hotel Tremezzo, among others) has brought this residence back to life. ‘She is an incredible girl, perfection made person. She likes beauty, is unstoppable, always wants to do more, loves details, doesn't limit herself, has an innate sense of hospitality. We told each other that we must go to the biggest hotel restaurants in the world for inspiration. We will do that. I am almost 50, but I’ve decided to put myself out there, I want to grow further, just like her. We will invite the most prestigious toques from the most important maisons at Passalacqua. We want to create a new model,’ one capable of recovering the past but without a museum vision. In fact, in a contemporary version.

A great challenge for Viviana, as we said. She is called upon to technically develop a different style from the past, and therefore to approach a classic cuisine by giving it her touch, with current techniques. ‘I'm taking my time, it's a long-term project, the company has to grow and structure itself, I'm an entrepreneur too and I understand the need to proceed step by step.’ Her enthusiasm is the real secret, ‘because I fall in love with things.’ But Milan? What did it leave her? ‘I am proud of my Milanese experience. When I got my Michelin star, in 2012, there were only 10 of us (on top of Alice, Trussardi alla Scala, Joia, Sadler, Tano Passami l'Olio, Al Pont de Ferr, Unico, Innocenti Evasioni, Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia). Milan is my city. My home, my partner, two restaurants are there. When I am very old, I want to die in Majorca, but I still have my Milanese baggage, the experience, the work. I’m a workaholic, I have no attachment to money, I invest everything I have in further activities.’

Indeed, Viviana Varese, in addition to Passalacqua, there are W Villadorata Country Restaurant in Noto (Siracusa),  Viva il Bistrot, also in Noto, and then Polpo in Milan (we wrote about it here) and the new Milanese format, Faak, which stands for 'Food and wine in natural rebellion': a reality with many souls in Via Arnaldo da Brescia 5 (pastry, bakery and pizza, grilled food and a great attention to wine. From breakfast to dinner, it combines a place for a tasty break and a lab with attached shop). Not to mention the many consultancies, from Miami to India. ‘I don't think I'll go any further, otherwise it becomes too much.’

Meanwhile, we enjoy Passalacqua. Our tasting included Potato in a puff pastry case with lime potato cream, egg yolk, sour cream, chives and Oscietra caviar, perfect and fully in line with the idea of cuisine. The same goes for Lamb pithivier stuffed with foie gras, savoy cabbage and quince in syrup; spectacular as well as delicious. Then, of course, aristocracy or not, Mixed pasta, potatoes, pecorino, parmigiano reggiano, pistachio and mint is a dish we would never stop eating.

All our tastings, in Tanio Liotta's photos.

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso