Massimo Alverà

«The new dining room is a tribute to our Tofane, our mountains», says Massimo Alverà with enlightened farsightedness. He was born in 1968 in Cortina d’Ampezzo and he’s the patron of a pastry shop in Cortina that bears his surname. Massimo wanted a special dining room.  This is partly because it’s a place - 60 square metres, seating 45 people – entirely dedicated to tasting, breakfast, lunch, snacks or whatever. And in part because before being an indoor place, this was a terrace. Now I have windows all around. «From here you have a view of half the landscape».

«Our Alpine identity is represented by the ceiling», he explains, pointing at the large larch beams recovered from old houses, malghe and barns up in the mountains. «But our dynamism is represented by the rest of the structure, which favours steel, ceramics and clean, minimalistic lines». It’s an elegant place, that shows a precise idea: modern pastry-making, with a vibrant Italian spirit and French aesthetics. Indeed Massimo draws his inspiration from France. He doesn’t deny some pillars of Central European pastry making, but he makes them contemporary.

He prepares his delicious desserts in the laboratory underneath the pastry-shop. The charming aromas fill the entire boutique, which was born in 1914 as a bakery. «My great-grandparent Adolfo opened»,Massimo points out. «Not right here, but always in Cortina». Then it was gradually transformed into a pastry-shop with a strong Hapsburg character, before and after the 1956 Olympic games.

«It was then, that the town became a popular winter destination», the pastry-chef explains. In the early Nineties he took over the family establishment and changed it. He gave the offer more focus on the territory, but with a French touch. The éclairs are a proof of this.

Alverà is a member of Accademia Maestri Pasticceri Italiani and a Petra Selected Partner.