Benjamin e Clara Weatherall
Shellfish cevicheby Gastón Acurio
Dall'Italia I Conoscenti: piccolo scrigno di ospitalità a Bologna
Left to right, Corrado Assenza, the maestro pastry-chef at Caffè Sicilia in Noto, and his team which includes Reiko, Corrado and his son Francesco Assenza
Corrado Assenza is happy. His hair is a little longer than usual, his eyes are focused and intense, like a coffee bean. He's wearing the white uniform of his beloved profession while passers-by give him their most sincere best wishes. His Caffè Sicilia is back, always in Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Noto's main street. It has opened after a long renovation.
«When we decided to close to improve – he explains – we still didn't have a written project. But Corrado Papa (his close friend and the architect who managed the works and the artisans involved in the project) and I knew well what was urgent at Caffè: we just looked into each other's eyes and decided to start. Necessary structural works which, more than anything, have a beneficial impact on the management of our daily work, which is much smoother now. For instance, we've managed to create a new space to make and preserve gelato. And we've included a clearing station which allows more freedom of movement for the team at Caffè: less obstacles also means more quality time with the guests to express themselves and offer their welcome».
The smiles at Caffè Sicilia: Davide, Alessio, Saro and Vincenzo
The entrance of Caffè Sicilia on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Noto
So if you expect innovation, you might be disappointed; if you're looking for novelty, better go somewhere else: Caffè Sicilia is the present of an ongoing story, a corridor that communicates between what was, and what will continue to be. It's not a coincidence that there's been no opening event. They simply opened the doors, the most natural gesture of all, and started exactly from where they had all left: at the heart of their work. Everything is back in its place. The laboratory is a scented labyrinth, a place for laborare par excellence, a lab for thoughts too, where Nature is transformed and preserved. It's both an archive and a source. But even more it's a place of sharing, of living and working together: everyone is committed, working with and to support one another. There's Reiko, Francesco, Corrado and Corrado. Joy and order, warmth and calm. There's Corrado the father, and Francesco the son: together they discuss and learn; sharing ideas is the active principle that starts the evolution and even when this becomes a “clash” (in terms of different points of view being expressed) this confrontation will always be reassured by a common ground: ingredients.
Ingredients nourish, but don't fill you up; they don't make you feel heavy, but they are satisfying, so much so that cannoli disappear in a matter of three bites, but the emotion that joins the crispy pastry and the pure ricotta cheese spreads in you (and when you think about it, cannoli, whose fragrance is due to animal fats, to lard, filled with a sheep's milk cheese, can well be an emblem of that sweet non sweet, or in this case savoury non savoury).
Biancomangiare at Caffè Sicilia
Is something missing, Corrado? «There's a last passage to go full circle with this precious stage. The photo of all who took part in this project, here, in front of the entrance on the Corso, showing through our faces the sense of social responsibility, one towards the other, that comes with being part of a community».
And before disappearing inside the lab of Caffè Sicilia two visitors from Germany stop him and say:« Mr. Corrado! Thank you for opening!».
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
Born in Irpinia in 1991, she studied Foreign Languages at university, and then International Studies. But then she followed her heart and so her love for hospitality was born in the New Forest (U.K.). Her love for food had always been alive and kicking. After manging the hospitality at Identità Golose Milano, today she reports on flavours for Identità Golose. Isa travels, and tastes. She keeps her sensations alive through words.
On the stage of Identità Milano 2022, the ABC of gelato, three interpreters of Italian gelato (at home and outdoors): Assenza Corrado (Caffè Sicilia, Noto), Brunelli Paolo (Gelateria e Cioccolateria Brunelli and Combo, Senigallia) and Casone Matteo (La Glace Alain Ducasse, Paris). Photos from Brambilla-Serrani
The seven speakers at Pasticceria italiana contemporanea, in partnership with Petra® Molino Quaglia and Valrhona, on Sunday 26th September in Sala Blu 2 at Identità Milano. From the top left corner Corrado Assenza (Caffè Sicilia, Noto - Siracusa), Fabio Longhin (Pasticceria Chiara, Olgiate Olona - Varese), Nicola Olivieri (Olivieri 1882, Arzignano - Vicenza), Luca Lacalamita (LuLa - Pane e Dessert, Trani). From the bottom left corner, Francesca Castignani (Pasticceria Belle Hélène, Tarquinia - Viterbo), Pino Ladisa (Pasticceria Pino Ladisa, Bari Poggiofranco - Bari) and Gianluca Fusto (Fusto Milano - Milan)
Reviews, recommendations and trends from Italy, signed by all the authors of Identità Golose