Alberto Gipponi

Three hours after opening his first restaurant as patron-chef, at 37, Alberto Gipponi ended up in the hospital, in Brescia: «The oil caught fire because of a gust of wind». Third-degree burns on both hands, which needed surgery, thirty days of absolute rest. Except he immediately went back to the kitchen. He didn’t want to cancel the only reservation he had that day, made by one person only: his wife Angela. In a way, he was looking for it: he opened his restaurant Dina, in Gussago, on a particular day, Friday 17th November 2017 (17 being the Italian equivalent of 13).

He was left with the professional marks of a great talent, though it only appeared later on, throbbing in the heart of a creative man. «I’m aware of my limits, and of the fact I’ve learnt to learn from my mistakes», which is not a triviality. «And I made a lot of mistakes», he confesses. For sure, his career was unusual. He was born in Brescia in 1980, graduated in Sociology, then became a musician («Not very talented»), then a lecturer at University, then he did social work, «but always with an obsession: cooking. I always dined in a fine dining restaurant at least once a month. However, I had to fine tune my hands (that is to say my technique) to what I had in mind, in my soul and in my palate».

Then at 35 he decided to turn this into a profession. He found an internship in Friuli, at Joe Bastianich’s Orsone and then closer to home, at Da Nadia. «On April 9th 2016 I dined at Osteria Francescana for the first time». He fell in love and left there his presentation ofCrema di buccia di zucca, a cream of pumpkin peel that struck Massimo Bottura for its use of the discarded part of the pumpkin.

A few days later his phone rings. It’s Bottura. Gipponi makes him agree to have him as an intern in Modena, a few months later. 

The following year, he opened his restaurant Dina, a marvellous place named after the chef’s grandmother. A story that ended with an incredible success, including the Surprise of the year award from Guida Identità Golose 2019.