Milan, 1st April 2015 – It’s difficult not to admit its certificate of «greatest restaurant in the world», in the words of Paolo Marchi. For six months, the temporary restaurant inside Identità Expo will see many of the most brilliant stars in the world’s culinary skies at work: a unique, ambitious event which will make Italian fine dining shine, projecting it into its deserved international dimension.
The format is simple. In the elegant spaces signed by famous names in Italian design (the interior design is by Giulio Cappellini, the lights are created by Davide Groppi, the decor outside was assigned to Roda and Emanule Bortolotti AG&P, the professional kitchens are Marrone while the cooking show space is designed by Valcucine) every day, at lunchtime and dinnertime, it will be possible to taste the dishes created by the most famous Italian chefs and by an extraordinary selection of great chefs from all the world.
The debut is assigned to the person who is today the symbol of Italian fine dining: from Thursday 1st May till Sunday 3rd May, the 150 places of Identità Expo will be sieged to honour the number one chef in Italy and number three in the world, according to The World's 50 Best Restaurants, that is to say Massimo Bottura patron of Osteria Francescana in Modena. After the debut at full speed, we continue with a rich programme that will see the participation, during six months – from Wednesdays till Sundays, at day and night (two shifts at lunchtime and as many for dinner, 12,30-3,30 pm and 7,30-10,30 pm) - 26 important signatures in the restaurant scene to which one needs to add as many international chefs invited on the Sundays for the four-handed performances.
The names for the “Italian & International Best Chef” section have already been confirmed for the first months: on 6th-10th May a chef who honours the famous tradition he inherited, is awaited, namely Ugo Alciati, of Guido Ristorante in Serralunga d’Alba, who at 9 was already “playing” with his mum Lidia in the kitchen of the mythical family restaurant, a pillar and a revolutionary element in the history of modern Italian cooking. Then we move to Tuscany, welcoming the prince of the kitchen in Florence, Marco Stabile of Ora d’Aria, capable of marvellously re-interpreting the typical cooking of one of the most fascinating cities in Italy. From Wednesday 20th May till Sunday 24th we will be cuddled by the great Friuli of Emanuele Scarello of restaurant Agli Amici in Udine. The month ends with a high quality foreign guest: Slovenian Tomaž Kavčič, who in his Pri Lojzetu in villa Zemono in Vipavska, some 30 km from Gorizia, finds brave yet very successful balances between East and West, waves and inland, tradition and creativity.
June offers a marvellous triptych right from the start: on 3rd-7th June we move to the sea with one of the greatest fish interpreters, Moreno Cedroni of Madonnina del Pescatore in Senigallia. On 10th-14th June it’s the turn of Davide Oldani of D’O in Cornaredo who has renewed the parameters of creative cooking with his pop cuisine. What about Pino Cuttaia at Identità Expo on 17th-21st June? His dishes are rooted in the Sicily of food, transporting it into the future. The month ends with Peruvian Diego Muñoz, that is to say a chef capable of taking on the huge heritage of Gastón Acurio (who has confirmed his participation in Identità Expo) and succeed him in the lead of the culinary offer of Astrid y Gastón in Lima.
As for July, only some exceptional anticipations: we will start with Francesco Apreda, from Naples, born in 1974 offering high class cuisine at Imàgo inside hotel Hassler in Rome, a representation of what’s beautiful in Italy. Then Rodrigo Oliveira of Mocotò in San Paolo, Brazil, one of the greatest interpreters of the South American cuisine that is standing out as the new polar star in the world’s culinary skies; Davide Scabin of Combal.Zero in Rivoli, perhaps the more histrionic, talented and versatile among our chefs; and then a brand you can always count on, that of Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, offering a perfect cocktail of knowledge and creativity, playing with the mastery of Annie Feolde and the flair of Italo Bassi and Riccardo Monco. With the arrival of August there will be the US based Italian fine dining represented by Tony Mantuano of restaurant Spiaggia in Chicago. An unprecedented programme? This is not all. On Mondays and Tuesdays, at lunchtime, 26 more great chefs – in this case strictly Italian – will present unique experiences for six months in the “Contemporary Italian Chefs” section. Let’s return to May, therefore, with the debut (4th-5th May) of the golden brothers of Italian cuisine, Christian and Manuel Costardi, patrons of restaurant Da Christian e Manuel in Vercelli. The following week, 11th-12th May, the focus will be on an unusual pairing between high mountain dishes and touches from the Far East, thanks to the magic of Norbert Niederkofler of St.Hubertus in San Cassiano, Val Badia. On 18th-19th May the menu will be signed by a rising star such as Antonia Klugmann, who offers very refined dishes in her new L'Argine a Vencò in Collio and will do the same, extraordinarily at Expo 2015 for two days. On 25th-26th May space will be given to a great master of Italian cuisine, capable of creating some true wonders of elegance and taste: Claudio Sadler, a “synonym of soundness”, it’s been said.
In June the debut will be with Andrea Berton (1st-2nd June), from Friuli, of the homonymous restaurant capable of conquering two Michelin stars at Trussardi alla Scala, from one year to the other, like only Gualtiero Marchesi before him. We continue on 8th-9th June with a new and young face, that of Fabrizio Ferrari, born in 1980 in Milan and working at Al Porticciolo 84 in Lecco, a great talent and the creator of an original mix of Mediterranean and Oriental flavours. The following week will be the turn of Angelo Sabatelli, from Apulia, with an original experience: he’s been travelling all around he world and then the consecration, at 46, in his hometown, Monopoli. The second last event that month, on 22nd-23rd June, will be with Lele Usai, patron of starred restaurant Il Tino at Ostia, near Rome. We close, on 29th-30th June with the evocative Mediterranean offer of Fabio Abbattista: who with his Leone Felice in Erbusco, the restaurant of L’Albereta Relais Chateaux, had to handle the inheritance of Marchesi before even turning forty.