Identità di Formaggio: in partnership with Parmigiano Reggiano, the section dedicated to the art of cheese-making in the kitchen returns at the Congress

Great Italian cheeses are back in the spotlight at Identità Milano 2024, on Saturday 9^th of March (here is the full programme of the 19th edition), on the occasion of Identità di Formaggio. The programme of this conference section, the fourth organised by Identità in partnership with Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano, will feature exceptional guests who will propose different approaches and interpretations of cheese in fine dining, from savoury to sweet, including ice cream.

There will be six masterclasses, with: Enrico and Roberto Cerea (Da Vittorio, Brusaporto), Cesare Murzilli (10_11 Bar, Giardino, Ristorante at Portrait Milan), Jessica Galletti (Il Jelato di Jessica, Cesenatico - Forlì-Cesena) and Stefano Guizzetti (Ciacco Lab, Milan and Parma). Riccardo Forapani and Virginia Cattaneo (Cavallino, Maranello - Modena), Terry Giacomello (Nin al Belfiore Park Hotel, Brenzone sul Garda - Verona), Carlo Cracco and Mattia Pecis (Cracco Portofino, Genoa).

The partnership between Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano and Identità Golose was born in 2020 out of the desire to create a space for an open and direct dialogue between Italian dairy excellences and the restaurant industry, an opportunity to explore the potential of an ingredient that is by no means secondary in contemporary cuisine and increasingly at the centre of all sorts of preparations. We are certain that, inspired by the theme of this 19th edition, 'There is no innovation without disobedience: Revolution today', the speakers at Identità di Formaggio will be able to propose new and brave ideas and perspectives.

Save the date: 11 a.m. on Saturday 9^th of March 2024, for the start of Identità di Formaggio.

Enrico and Roberto Cerea - Da Vittorio, Brusaporto

Offering seafood in the carnivorous Bergamo of 1966: whether a gamble or an intuition, Vittorio Cerea's idea was destined to be a great success and attract droves of gourmands over the following decades. Especially since his eldest son Enrico, aka Chicco, 'fell into the family pots as a child.... The passion infected him', so that he started to devote even school holidays to studying the cuisines of the world, acquiring sensibility and technique: 'I never stopped learning'. Then his younger brother, Roberto, aka Bobo, was also struck by the same disease of fine food. For him too, a path of study and dedication. Designated heirs. Today Vittorio is no longer there and the premises have also changed, with the move to the prestigious villa with hotel sunk in the green Cantalupa, in Brusaporto, and the arrival in 2010 of the third Michelin star, after the first (1970) and second (1996). Yet there’s still continuity. Chicco follows in the wake of his father, with his mother Bruna acting as guarantor: a cuisine of refined opulence, a family trademark. Habits extended also to St. Moritz (another Michelin star) and, in 2019, to Palazzo Versace, Macao.

Cesare Murzilli - 10_11 Bar, Giardino, Ristorante at Portrait Milano

Cesare Murzilli was born in Rome. After studying medicine, he decided to take a new path and devote himself completely to his great passion: pastry-making, to the point of working all over the world with various master pastry chefs. From the selection of cakes served for breakfast to a dessert to round off dinner, at 10_11 it’s always time for sweet treats. Here Cesare Murzilli gives a contemporary take to the great classics of Italian pastry making that are reminiscent of family celebrations such as torta di mele, meringue pie and millefeuille.

Jessica Galletti - Il Jelato di Jessica, Cesenatico and Stefano Guizzetti - Ciacco Lab, Milan and Parma

An ice cream maker with a background as an ichthyopathologist and marine biologist, Jessica Galletti pursues her research on ice cream, placing herself in a frontier space that encompasses both tradition and innovation, which stems from constant study and passion. She does this by dedicating herself to the production of new and renewed flavours in their production process - always fresh thanks to the express freezing process -, pursuing totally healthy recipes and attention to water and energy saving. Over time she’s given life to two ice-cream shops on top of the first one in Cesenatico. 

Riccardo Forapani and Virginia Cattaneo - Cavallino, Maranello

Riccardo Forapani and Virginia Cattaneo share the responsibility of signing the gastronomic proposal of Cavallino, the restaurant in Maranello revived by Massimo Bottura in the Ferrari headquarters. A 'classic' restaurant since its launch, which now speaks a traditional yet contemporary language. The Modenese chef has renovated the entire design and furnishings of the restaurant, with arches on the ceiling, terracotta, red and ivory checkered floors, reminiscent of trattorias’ tablecloths, F1 racing car snouts and engine parts sown between the main dining room and the grill room. And in the kitchen? ‘The customer is at the heart. We work to make the guest feel good and at home. We wanted to create a bourgeois, cosy and pleasant restaurant,' explains Forapani. 

Terry Giacomello - Nin at Belfiore Park Hotel, Brenzone sul Garda 

He is no longer a talented young man, Terry Giacomello, born in 1969 in Aviano, in Friuli; his style is shaped by the most important formative experience of his career, the three years alongside Ferran Adrià, but he has also worked at Noma and Mugaritz, with Alex Atala, Helena Rizzo and Michel Bras... All this makes him one of the most technical chefs in Italy, and one of the chefs who can best embody the dialogue between disobedience and innovation. The restaurant he opened in Brenzone, on the Verona side of the lake, inside the Belfiore Park Hotel is called Nin ('boy', in Friulian).  Giacomello's world is a kaleidoscope of food marvels from all over the world, which the chef moulds by bringing them together with the raw materials of the region (or regions: there is always a touch of his Friuli), to obtain dishes that show pure and simple experimentation, or that hint to culinary tradition: full creative freedom, nothing is precluded.

Carlo Cracco and Mattia Pecis - Cracco in Galleria, Milan and Cracco Portofino, Genoa

Carlo Cracco, as was recalled only a few days ago with this article by Paolo Marchi, is one of the pillars of our Congress and has been more than an inspiration for it. In this lesson, he will be joined by one of his very young pupils: Mattia Pecis, born in 1996 in Val Seriana, near Bergamo, his executive chef at Cracco Portofino for two years now.

 

 

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Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso