The Congresso is coming: four new protagonists at Identità Milano 2021

The International Chefs' Congress is coming up. Scheduled from the 25th to the 27th of September (here's the complete programme of Identità Milano 2021) at MiCo - Milano Congressi, this rich and awaited edition will have many new entries among its speakers. Together with many others, they will animate the discussion on the theme chosen this year Building a New Future: Work.

 

DANILO BRUNETTI from pizzeria Giolina, Milan
Identità di Pizza in partnership with Petra® Molino Quaglia, Monday 27th September at 10,30

Danilo Brunetti is the pizzaiolo from Giolina, the diamond on the crown of the pizza empire in Milan created in March 2019 by entrepreneur Ilaria Puddu and her business partner Stefano Saturnino.
A life spent at the service of the white art, with full commitment and dedication, starting with the family pizzeria Luigino in Foscadro, in the province of Cosenza. Luigi is his father, the man and artisan whom Danilo has kept watching, observing how he worked with ease with dough. And so as a teenager he sacrificed with devotion a slice of his youth but then also acquired more and more space in the pizzeria, at first kneading focaccias, then baking his first Margherita, and then becoming his father's help. His future was taking shape, and then he met a role model whom he appreciates for his humility and technique, Neapolitan Gino Sorbillo: this was during a contest organised by Nastro Azzurro which offered Danilo the opportunity to bake a pizza in the historic restaurant in Via Dei Tribunali next to the maestro. But for Danilo the real leap was the arrival in Milan and then the possibility of taking the helm at pizzeria Marghe before arriving at Giolina. Here he studies his ideal pizza, the result of a constant exchange of views with Ilaria Puddu, who has always believed in the young chef from Calabria. Brunetti's dough rises for a long time and his pizza, a balanced combination of simplicity, softness and goodness, delights the demanding Milanese guests. His soft spot, in terms of topping, is for highly selected products: nature, small producers, and niche raw materials. The recipes are inspired by the great chefs, but also by tradition and background: as a consequence, guests at Giolina can add ‘nduja to their Margherita, better known as Ghitina.

 

FRANCESCO CAPECE from pizzeria La Locanda dei Feudi, Pezzano (Salerno)
Identità di Cocktail with Mario Ventura from Emanuel Cafè, Sunday 26th September at 12,50

Originally from San Cipriano Picentino (Salerno) the career of Francesco Capece, pizzaiolo from La Locanda dei Feudi is mostly shaped in his region, though he did acquire experience around the world too. It's his father who, initially, encourages Francesco to take on this career in 2010 when, with his brother, they open a tavola calda and pizzeria in Salerno: their father's goal is that his son learn the job next to a maestro. Mission accomplished, at least half so. Because while the business is not as successful as they hoped, Francesco, doesn't give up and dedicates more and more passion and time to the art of pizza making. The turning point arrives when the young pizzaiolo takes over, in his home village, La Locanda dei Feudi and that's where his first business venture really begins, with a specific goal: promoting, through his experience, the culture of fine pizza in the province of Salerno. The goal is achieved, so much so that in the space of a few years, he interrupts the takeaway service to avoid any compromised quality. The focus becomes quality, a careful service and a pizza that is worth the trip. A Neapolitan pizza that ranges from the most traditional flavours to elegant pairings for the gourmet options. Francesco is young but he's also ambitious and he's learning to be both an entrepreneur and a pizzaiolo. The winning ingredients for a good pizza? An inviting aroma, an intense flavour and an easily digestible dough.

 

PINO LADISA, Pasticceria Pino Ladisa, Bari
Pasticceria Italiana Contemporanea in partnership with Petra® Molino Quaglia and Valrhona, Sunday 26th September at 4,30 pm

Born in 1970, Pino Ladisa is the sweet soul of Bari: a skilful pastry chef and virtuous chocolatier, he gives an authentic take to the art of pastry making which, as of 1960, is part of the Ladisa family. Pino was indeed born in the business and his enthusiasm began when he was very young and, at the weekend, he would spend his time in the workshop, absorbing the flavours, the scents, but most of all the technique. So, once he finished attending the liceo classico high school, in 1991, he opened his first shop in Valenzano, on the outskirts of Bari. From here, lots of training, constantly and varied, because at the heart of his studies there are both chocolate, with masters like Igino Massari, Luigi Biasetto, Paco Torreblanca, Fréderic Bau and Christophe Renou, and baked products with Achille Zoia and Rolando Morandin. His knowledge is immediately transformed into delicious displays: chocolate sculptures, pralines, bars, spreads and Easter eggs liven up the windows of Pasticceria Ladisa which, over the years, changes location and is now in Bari: it's called Pino Ladisa Pasticcere Cioccolatiere, opened in 2018 in Via Papa Giovanni XXIII. Lots of awards, and new accomplishments for the pastry making of Ladisa, but his favourite raw material is cioccolato: so easy to shape, it allows him to fully express his creativity. Pairing 24 types of cocoa, from all around the world, with fresh fruit, nuts and spices, he makes unique combinations in a range that is divided, depending on the resulting flavours, according to each season. His products have an elegant aesthetic, impeccable raw materials and this is show in all his creations, both the ones with chocolate and the breakfast pastries, the macarons, the cakes, the ice cream and the prince of the holidays: the "three dough" panettone.

 

GIAN LUCA CAVI, Magritte - Gelati al Cubo, Fidenza (Parma)
Identità di Gelato in partnership with Motor Power, Saturday 25th September at 11,30

Gian Luca Cavi, born in 1988 in Fiorenzuola d’Arda, in the province of Piacenza, attended a technical high school. He then followed his love for humanistic studies, especially literature and writing, his past time, always respective the essential balance between duty and pleasure. But inside his intimate relationship with food gains more and more strength, and he develops for food a deep sensitivity. For every food? Of course – as shown by the meticulous choice of ingredients for his gelato – but above all cream flavours – with which he starts to work as a kid with his grandmother. Ingredients: butter and mascarpone. Method: ancestral, without schemes. One guide only: taste. So instead of wasting precious energy as a quality manager in various businesses, Gian Luca starts to look at the world of gelato and trains with valid teachers such as Manuele Presenti of Gelateria Chiccheria in Marina di Grosseto, a deeply human motivator; and then Simone De Feo from Cremeria Capolinea where he works on the counter, an activity matched with his constant confrontation with Simone, so much so that Gian Luca develops his personal idea of gelateria, which he opens on the 27th of June 2020. Magritte – Gelati al Cubo, in Fidenza, is born, a project he creates with his partner – an architect - Giulia Filippini. Why Magritte? Because he has the special love Impressionism; as for the cube, this refers to the multifaceted flavours and content. It's an ice cream that starts from inspiration conveyed in gelato, with no pre-prepared ingredients, but made with raw materials from small producers, responsible farmers, not necessarily local but always responsible. The textures are different, there are monthly themes developed in as many flavours. His favourite flavour? Cream, of course, with brown beetroot sugar and a high percentage of egg yolk, stressing the Emilian identity.

HERE IS THE COMPLETE PROGRAMME OF IDENTITÀ MILANO 2021

TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso