Alex Atala
Macaroni and veal tripe, chili pepper and amatriciana sauce (tribute to Adrià) by Elio Sironi
Mondo pizza L'importanza di chiamarsi fiordilatte (ovvero: non confondiamolo con la mozzarella!)
Tiramiseu, the tiramisu-flavoured pizza dessert from Pier Daniele Seu, patron in Rome of Seu Pizzeria Illuminati. Photo by Andrea Di Lorenzo
There's no doubt there's a play with words here: Tiramisù + Seu = Tiramiseu, the tiramisu-flavoured pizza from Pier Daniele Seu, born in 1987, now based in Rome but originally from Sardinia. He presented his Capolavoro italiano in cucina on TV, during Striscia la notizia on the 17th March. Please note: he's a superb pizzaiolo who is also a pastry chef but what he pulls out from his oven are always pizzas, whether they're sweet or savoury.
This 30-year-old, the best young pizzaiolo of Italy, has a nice story. He didn't even think of becoming a pizzaiolo when he was a kid: «I got here almost by chance, like many loves that are born like that, and then you hope they'll never end. What created the sparkle? A discussion with my dad, Pierangelo, who wanted me to become a building administrator, which I hated. So I launched myself in what at the time was a new world, that of pizzas and leavened products».
Pier Daniele Seu and his wife Valeria Zuppardo
Every prominent figure is such thanks to a specific excellent product, and in his case, this extraordinary quality is represented by having developed a very specific pastry offer in the shape of pizza: «Valeria raised this challenge when she told me: if you're so good making savoury pizza, why don't you try making sweet ones? At the time, we bought desserts from others, but they were never satisfying. And besides, I love challenges, and this brought us luck».
So at Seu pizza illuminati, in Via Angelo Bargoni, just off Porta Portese, there are two different sweet pizzas each season, Fior di fragola or Winner taco, Pizza colada, with pineapple, recalling the cocktail, the apple strudel one, and the extraordinary Tiramiseu...
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. twitter @oloapmarchi