Five years!
On the 18th of September 2018, a Tuesday five years ago, Claudio Ceroni and I opened Identità Golose Milano in Via Romagnosi 3, between the Mandarin Oriental and the Teatro alla Scala, the first international gastronomy hub. It was, and still is, the daily showcase, in absolute contemporaneity, in which to expose every idea, every reality born in the wake of the Identità Golose congress, first born February 2004 with a first edition January 2005, and the six months of Identità Expo, from May to October 2015.
That vision almost at the turn of the century was formidable. The 184 days spent at Milan Expo when the thousand cuisines of the world met at the Rho Fairgrounds were incredibly intoxicating. When the curtain fell, we were immediately seized with nostalgia for an event that, in our interpretation, proposed different protagonists day after day, chefs from Italy, Europe and the World, three geographical realities that are very dear to us because we are there to know and unite peoples and countries from every corner of the globe.
Paolo Marchi and Claudio Ceroni, founding partners of Identità Golose in 2004 and the Identità Golose MIlano hub in September 2018, on the 18th, five years ago
To recreate the magic associated with the World Fair, and return to a reality marked by lunches and dinners, tastings, conventions and conferences, it was decisive to find a space that was central in the city, but not brazenly in the public eye.
Identità Golose Milano had to overlook a street close to the busiest thoroughfares, that was elegant but of an understated elegance, where discretion appeared as a virtue.
Andrea Ribaldone, a top chef with whom the collaboration continues since 2015 and Expo Milano
And the choice eventually fell on the space that long after the war housed the
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation, which had moved in the meantime. The reading room would become the Oval Room for conferences, discussions and conventions, and for private lunches or dinners too. The various spaces occupied by the mighty archive would instead house both the kitchen and the restaurant, while the courtyard, dominated by a superb century-old wisteria, would welcome a bioclimatic greenhouse that we called Glicine for this very reason.
The protagonists of the first ever dinner, dedicated to Milan, at Identità Golose Milano on the 18th of September 2018. Left to right: Davide Oldani, Fabio Pisani, Andrea Ribaldone, Andrea Aprea, Antonio Guida, Alessandro Negrini and Claudio Sadler
The curtain went up on the evening of Tuesday 18th of September, dedicated to Milan. Coordinated by
Andrea Ribaldone, already a protagonist during Identità Expo, a master at cooking but also at calculating food costs, in some ways an even more important aspect,
Andrea Aprea,
Antonio Guida,
Alessandro Negrini,
Davide Oldani,
Fabio Pisani,
Andrea Ribaldone and
Claudio Sadler took turns. The following evening we celebrated Italy thanks to
Annie Feolde,
Cristina Bowerman,
Enrico Cerea and
Alessandro Della Tommasina,
Gennaro Esposito,
Niko Romito and
Mauro Uliassi. Finally, the world the night after that. We all remember
Christoph Bob,
Rafael Charquero,
Philip Léveillé,
Matias Perdomo and
Paco Roncero.
On the 19th of September 2018, the second gala dinner at the hub in Via Romagnosi, after celebrating the cuisine of Milan, that of Italy. Left to right: resident chef Andrea Ribaldone, who was holding a star in Piedmont at the time, Alessandro Della Tommasina, Cristina Bowerman, Enrico Cerea, Annie Feolde, Mauro Uliassi, Niko Romito and Gennaro Esposito
So this was the first week, and then week after week, month after month, overcoming the terrible months of the pandemic, taking advantage of every useful moment to strongly reiterate the points we hold most dear. One is an imperative: to value young people, our future in the dining room and the kitchen.
Edoardo Traverso, a talent valorised by Andrea Ribaldone, who immediately wanted him in the kitchens of Identità Golose Milano to the point of entrusting him a few months ago with full responsibility for dishes and menus. The apprenticeship for the Ligurian is over, the growth continues
With
Ribaldone as a lifelong point of reference in the kitchen, here is
Andrea Polini his alter ego in the dining room where
Simone Sacchetti is the sommelier. Between ovens and induction stoves, over time
Edoardo Traverso, in the hub from early morning, has climbed every rang until he became the executive chef,
Alessio Magistro his deputy.
12th of October 2020, a special date for the Romagnosi hub. We presented Tre Stelle Michelin, the book published by Manfredi Maretti and curated by Maurice von Greenfields. On the occasion, the menu was signed by the portrayed super-chefs. Left to right: Italo Monco, Alessandro Della Tommasina, Annie Feolde, Enrico Cerea, Enrico Bartolini and Norbert Niederkofler
On the 4th of October, we will applaud all those who contribute daily to Romagnosi and beyond. We will do so with a dinner, with guest of honour
Massimo Bottura, which will be curated, in order of course, by
Alessandro Lucassino,
Franco Pepe,
Antonia Klugmann,
Edoardo Traverso and
Simone Finazzi. The former is the head of
Cucina Mutualité in Paris, of the
Alain Ducasse group;
Pepe is the world's most famous pizza maker,
Pepe in Grani his headquarters in Caiazzo (Caserta);
Antonia Klugmann, the muse of the green and natural world with
L'Argine di Vencò in Dolegna del Collio (Gorizia);
Edoardo Traverso will play at home; finally pastry chef
Simone Finazzi, will delight us with the sweet notes that have always tied me and us to the
Cerea family of Brusaporto (Bergamo).
To each his own identity, in Milan as everywhere.
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso