Credits Brambilla-Serrani
via dei Giubbonari, 21/22 Rome +39.06.6875287
The imprinting of Alessandro Roscioli, born in 1970 and fourth generation in the family run business, is marked by an episode and a custom: when together with his father Mario he visited Peppino Cantarelli in Samboseto, a hamlet of Busseto in Parma, and the then seven-year-old discovered what a pleasure-island can be hidden behind the counter of a delicatessen; and when, only a few years later, in the afternoons after school he didn’t spend time over comic books but using his fingers he would finish the fruit tarts in the historic bakery in via dei Chiavari, where later even his younger brother Pierluigi would get busy (lucky for us). In 1990 his father bought a shop in nearby Via dei Giubbonari, the typical “pizzicarolo” (delicatessen) where Milanese salami represented the gourmand apotheosis. However, only in 1999 the Roscioli brothers – not without some doubts on behalf of their father – decided to make a decisive change towards quality and to select the best food available among Italian artisans. In January 2003 the second turning point arrived: the shop became a restaurant too. In fact, a pioneer delicatessen-cum-kitchen, which is in fact the format that more than any other is characterising the contemporary restaurant scene. The brothers took different roles: Pierluigi takes care of yeast and flour while Alessandro continues his personal Phd programme to become a “food philosopher”. Without any preaching, however, but with lots of common sense: “I truly believe in the stories of the people hidden behind great products and in teamwork in the dining room. At Roscioli we don’t want to give lessons to the public but to demonstrate that even a mass produced specialty such as mortadella can have a super quality. My biggest joy is when our clients, upon returning from a journey, bring me back a product to taste”. Today the fake grumpy and truly generous Alessandro, the “Cantarelli of the new millennium”, leads one of the destinations that you cannot miss in Rome: a place full of delicacies to be discovered, open 18 hours per day and travelling at 300 km per hour, on the corner between a boutique, a wine bar and a restaurant, with excellent products and traditional Roman dishes that are also celebrated in the New York Times. “Should I choose a dish that better represents me, I’d say pasta with butter and Parmesan, because it synthesises Italy and because, as Fulvio Pierangelini says – and this is the quote introducing the house menu – the more the food seems simple, the more you need to pay attention because there’s greater space for mistakes”.
by
Born in Rome, wine and food writer for Il Sole 24Ore, La Repubblica and L’Uomo Vogue. He's a lecturer at Iulm and Food Media for several American colleges. Twitter @fdecesareviola
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Except for a few people missing, the whole team that worked on stage and behind, during Identità Milano 2014. Directing, Claudio Ceroni of MagentaBureau (in the centre - photo by Brambilla/Serrani)
Among the most appreciated lessons, "Food for fighting" by David Scabin (in the middle) of Combal.zero in Rivoli (Torino): what food can be given to those who fight illnesses? (in the photo by Brambilla/Serrani, left Francesca Barberini, right Beppe Rambaldi, Scabin’s second)
Alessandro Roscioli, dining room manager of the famous "salumeria con cucina" (delicatessen with kitchen) in Via dei Giubbonari in Rome, in a photo taken in 2010 (photo credits gazzetta gastronomica). He’s one of the protagonists of the second edition of Identità di Sala (Identità in the Dining Room), scheduled on Sunday February 9th in Sala Blu 2