Aldo Zivieri

You can't resist the meat. At least not this one. Scarlet red, marbled, caressing as velvet. Straight from the hands of the celebrity butchers, a small team of young stars in the gastronomic skies. Who would have said, a few years ago, that the big men with apron and bone-saw would have come out from behind the scenes? It's a story of people and passions, dreams that have nourished Italian cuisine in search of iron and fuel for the structures of taste.

Massimo Zivieri, in this case, with his father Graziano, and siblings Elena, Fabrizio, Aldo and Stefano, have all followed the way of cattle for over 50 years. So when in Monzuno a twin butcher's shop was about to close down, in 1987 Massimo decided to open it up again, while the sides of the beef were subjected to the galvanism of a different quality. Supplies from local breeders were substituted by the affiliation to Granda, a consortium as attentive to regulations as it was reliable on quantity and quality. And on top of that, traceability, since the Piedmontese meat shows the identikit of the animal. A choice soon followed by famous chefs such as Igles Corelli and Alberto Bettini, Aurora Mazzucchelli and Alberto Faccani, co-protagonists of a new meat culture.

The tracks of the cattle were followed by pigs, re-housing some Cinta Senese pigs in appointed areas of the Apennines near Bologna, free to rummage between oak and chestnut trees. And then experimenting the farm, always into the semi-wild, of the Mora Romagnola pig, strong and fat thanks to tubers, berries and acorns, with the corollary of cured meat aged above 700 metres with Cervia salt and pepper as the only condiments. Two similar breeds on two different sides of the same mountains, with equally noble results in the marbling and in the richness of omega 6, but with more lard on the Cinta – every animal has its vocation.

The end, however, is invariable: both beef and pigs are selected and hung according to the family know how. The florentine, for instance, needs to rest up to a month, and even with pigs, rush is prohibited, while the cuts vary according to the sartorial requirements of the chefs. Synergy is essential. In the name of Massimo, who died prematurely, every year the Chef al Massimo kermess revives Monzuno, a hymn to meat interpreted by the creativity of the most inspired chefs.