While we’re in the middle of a heatwave in this strange Italian summer, Identità is getting ready for its “back to school” (and hopefully post-Covid) phase, for an autumn of rebirth for the Italian restaurant industry. There will be Identità Golose, of course, from the 24th to the 26th of October, with the 16th edition of the international congress dedicated to fine dining, pastry making and dining room service. But before then, on the 3rd of September, Identità Golose Milano, the international hub of gastronomy in Via Romagnosi 3, will open again after two months of summer holidays.
Paolo Marchi has created a programme full of not-to-be-missed events: four-handed dinners, great guest chefs, lots of styles being compared, a whirlwind of flavours and aromas. Here is the programme until the eve of the congress (which will offer more surprises, we’ll return on that).
Thursday 3rd September
#TUTTIATAVOLA Milano starts over
Andrea Berton, Davide Oldani, Alessandro Negrini and Fabio Pisani, Gianluca Fusto
Identità Golose Milano is ready to welcome the people of Milan once again after two months of summer break. And we start with two exclusive, unique nights that will present the desire of rebirth of our city and our country. We’ll start with a dinner featuring five great authors of Milanese fine dining: Andrea Berton (Berton, one Michelin star), Davide Oldani (D’O, one Michelin star), Alessandro Negrini and Fabio Pisani (Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, two Michelin stars) and Gianluca Fusto (Fusto Milano). Five big friends of Identità with whom we will start a new great season in Via Romagnosi. The dinner will be offered for 85 euros per person, including wines, with one shift only at 8 pm.
Friday 4th September
#TUTTIATAVOLA Italy starts over
Cristina Bowerman, Massimiliano Mascia, Paolo Rota, Loretta Fanella
Identità Golose Milano is ready to welcome the people of Milan once again after two months of summer break. And we start with two exclusive, unique nights that will present the desire of rebirth of our city and our country. We will continue with a dinner that will summon, from various places around Italy, four inspired interpreters of fine dining: Cristina Bowerman (Glass Hostaria, Rome, one Michelin star), Massimiliano Mascia (San Domenico, Imola, two Michelin stars), Paolo Rota (Da Vittorio, Brusaporto, three Michelin stars), Loretta Fanella (Loretta Fanella Pastry Lab, Livorno). A dinner not to be missed, thanks to which we will travel through the most delicious and elegant flavours of Italy, just like we’ll do throughout the new season in Via Romagnosi. The dinner will be offered for 85 euros per person, including wines, with one shift only at 8 pm.
Saturday 5th September
The sea in Milan: a menu by Identità Golose Milano
With this menu, signed by Andrea Ribaldone and Simone Maurelli, we celebrate the rich catch that has always characterised the Milanese market, offering elegant dishes that will enhance fish that some still considers “poor”. The dinner will be offered for 75 euros per person, including wines.
Wednesday 9th - Saturday 12 September
Corrado Assenza’s savoury and sweet cuisine
Corrado Assenza (Caffè Sicilia, Noto, Siracusa) is more than a (great) pastry chef. He’s a thinker, a philosopher, a researcher. An ambassador of the material culture of his Sicily. And the person behind the overcoming of the barriers between sweet and savoury, which was thought over long before Ferran Adrià included it in his decalogue. Every visit he pays to Identità Golose Milano is a unique opportunity, not to be missed, to taste his extraordinary culinary art.
Monday 14th September
#TUTTIATAVOLA SOTTO LE STELLE: a long open air table joins Identità Golose Milano and Seta inside the Mandarin Oriental Milan for a charity dinner supporting L’Abilità Onlus
An elegant mise en place “under the stars” will be organised on that portion of Via Andegari that joins Identità Golose Milano to the Mandarin Oriental Milan Hotel. The chefs of Identità Golose Milano and Seta del Mandarin Oriental Milan will join forces for a charity event. The exclusive gala dinner will be signed by chefs Antonio Guida, Federico Dell’Omarino and pastry chef Nicola Di Lena (restaurant Seta del Mandarin Oriental Milan) with Andrea Ribaldone and Simone Maurelli (Identità Golose Milano). The menu will include four courses after a welcome aperitif offered in the outdoor spaces of the Mandarinhotel. The aperitif will start at 7.30 pm. To participate in the dinner a minimum donation of 200 euros is requested. Part of the proceedings will go to L’Abilità Onlus, an association that for over 20 years now has been taking care of disabled children and their families in Milan through structured services that guarantee their wellbeing, growth and the development of new abilities. The funds raised during the event will allow the association to continue its activities with disabled children and support their families.
Tuesday 15th September
The Great Masters of Pizza: Renato Bosco and Pier Daniele Seu
A not-to-be-missed and inspiring cycle of dinners promoted in collaboration with Acqua Panna and S.Pellegrino begins. Each night will feature two pizzaioli among the best interpreters of contemporary pizza. Such as Renato Bosco (Renato Bosco, San Martino Buon Albergo, Verona) and Pier Daniele Seu (Seu Pizza Illuminati, Rome), in this first event; the former, among the acknowledged masters of pizza in Italy, one of the fathers of contemporary pizza and a great experimenter, so much so he’s considered a “pizza-researcher”; the latter, one of the most brilliant and appreciated representatives of the new wave. This is the first in a series of monthly events. It includes five courses, that is to say four pizzas, two per each guest chef, plus a dessert and a cocktail with Sanpellegrino drinks, signed by multi-awarded bartender Mattia Pastori. The price is 60 euros not including wines and drinks. One shift only at 8 pm.
Wednesday 16th September – Saturday 19th September
The surprising mountain of Paolo Griffa
Paolo Griffa is one of the most promising young Italian chefs, already well-established: his talent is acknowledged by observers and celebrated with a Michelin star for his Petit Royal del Grand Hotel Royal, in Courmayeur (Aosta). Very prepared, impeccable, passionate, he has found in the mountains of Valle d’Aosta the right place to show his creativity, starting from the great raw materials he has available, interpreting them with always original and new ideas.
Wednesday 23rd – Friday 26th September
The many flavours of Naples with Salvatore Bianco
Salvatore Bianco born in Torre del Greco in 1978, after pirouetting in many different worlds (Capri, Chianti, Sankt Moritz, Milan, and then the Roman spin-off of Gualtiero Marchesi, Osteria dell’Orso) for a few years now has returned home to run the various restaurants of the blue hotel Romeo, overlooking Molo Beverello, and in particular of Il Comandante, which granted him a Michelin star. With his inspired work Bianco has managed to bring an innovative and current language in the Neapolitan cuisine, and we can’t wait to present him to the Milanese public.
Monday 28th September
Fish & Chef
Leandro Luppi (Vecchia Malcesine, Malcesine - Verona) e Massimo Fezzardi (Esplanade*, Desenzano sul Garda - Brescia). Pastry chef: Carmelo Di Novo (Pasticceria Di Novo Pastry Making, Manerba sul Garda – Brescia)
For the first time Identità Golose Milano hosts with great pleasure a beautiful and important project like Fish & Chef, now in its 11th edition. Created by Elvira Trimeloni and Leandro Luppi, this commendable project has chefs and pastry chefs from the Benaco – the ancient name of Lake Garda – meet and test themselves with a dialogue whose grammar is the use of local raw materials. The resulting menu is a summary of the free creativity of the chefs, inspired by a marvellous place. We start with the creator Leandro Luppi, one Michelin star with his old Vecchia Malcesine, Massimo Fezzardi, one Michelin star with Esplanade in Desenzano, and, for the dessert, Sicilian but now Brescia-based Carmelo Di Novo, whose family pastry shop has long been a point of reference for those visiting the banks of lake Garda. The menu will include 5 courses, 4 savoury and 1 sweet, and will be offered for 75 euros per person, including wines.
Tuesday 29th September
Fish & Chef
Stefano Baiocco (Villa Feltrinelli**, Gargnano - Brescia) e Andrea Costantini (Regio Patio del Regina Adelaide, Garda - Verona). Pastry chef: Carmelo Di Novo (Pasticceria Di Novo Pastry Making, Manerba sul Garda - Brescia)
For the first time Identità Golose Milano hosts with great pleasure a beautiful and important project like Fish & Chef, now in its 11th edition. Created by Elvira Trimeloni and Leandro Luppi, this commendable project has chefs and pastry chefs from the Benaco – the ancient name of Lake Garda – meet and test themselves with a dialogue whose grammar is the use of local raw materials. The resulting menu is a summary of the free creativity of the chefs, inspired by a marvellous place. For the second night we will host an extraordinary chef like Stefano Baiocco, two Michelin stars at Villa Feltrinelli di Gargnano, Andrea Costantini, who after working for many years as Bruno Barbieri’s right arm, has found his own dimension at Regio Patio inside hotel Regina Adelaide in Garda, and Brescia-based Carmelo Di Novo, whose family pastry shop has long been a point of reference for those visiting the banks of lake Garda. The menu will include 5 courses, 4 savoury and 1 sweet, and will be offered for 75 euros per person, including wines.
Wednesday 30th September – Saturday 3rd October
The great seafood cuisine of Abruzzo with Nicola Fossaceca
Born in 1983 in Trivento, in the inland of Molise, Nicola Fossaceca started his career by increasing the offer of the pastry shop that his parents opened in the Seventies by the sea in San Salvo Marina (Chieti). Over the years that place has become a restaurant called Al Metrò – 1 Michelin star, and here Nicola applies his desire to experiment to the magnificent products of the Adriatic Sea. His work with poor fish and surf and turf dishes is a proof of this, almost a desire to recuperate his origins and childhood flavours with a strong use of vegetables.
Monday 5th October
Fish & Chef
Peter Brunel (Peter Brunel, Arco - Trento) e Giuliana Germinasi (Capriccio*, Manerba del Garda - Brescia). Pastry chef: Annalisa Borella (pastry chef consultant)
For the first time Identità Golose Milano hosts with great pleasure a beautiful and important project like Fish & Chef, now in its 11th edition. Created by Elvira Trimeloni and Leandro Luppi, this commendable project has chefs and pastry chefs from the Benaco – the ancient name of Lake Garda – meet and test themselves with a dialogue whose grammar is the use of local raw materials. The resulting menu is a summary of the free creativity of the chefs, inspired by a marvellous place. For the third night we will host Peter Brunel, a chef of utmost elegance, from July 2019 back on the banks of his lake Garda with the restaurant named after him, Giuliana Germiniasi, one Michelin star with his Capriccio in Manerba del Garda, and Annalisa Borella, who has worked as pastry chef in top level brigades, including the one of Mauro Colagreco’s Mirazur in the year of the first place in the 50Best, and who now works as a pastry chef consultant in Brescia. The menu will include 5 courses, 4 savoury and 1 sweet, and will be offered for 75 euros per person, including wines.
Tuesday 6th October
Fish & Chef
Maurizio Bufi (Villa Giulia, Gargnano - Brescia) and Matteo Felter (Il Fagiano del Grand Hotel Fasano, Gardone Riviera - Brescia). Pastry chef: Annalisa Borella (pastry chef consultant)
For the first time Identità Golose Milano hosts with great pleasure a beautiful and important project like Fish & Chef, now in its 11th edition. Created by Elvira Trimeloni and Leandro Luppi, this commendable project has chefs and pastry chefs from the Benaco – the ancient name of Lake Garda – meet and test themselves with a dialogue whose grammar is the use of local raw materials. The resulting menu is a summary of the free creativity of the chefs, inspired by a marvellous place. For the fourth night we will host Maurizio Bufi, one Michelin star in Villa Giulia in Gargnano, a chef of great experience and class like Matteo Felter of Fagiano del Grand Hotel Fasano in Gardone Riviera, and Annalisa Borella, who has worked as pastry chef in top level brigades, including the one of Mauro Colagreco’sMirazur in the year of the first place in the 50Best, and who now works as a pastry chef consultant in Brescia. The menu will include 5 courses, 4 savoury and 1 sweet, and will be offered for 75 euros per person, including wines.
Wednesday 7th– Saturday 10th October
Daniele Usai and the sea of Rome
Daniele Usai is a chef who in almost 15 years of activity at Il Tino, one Michelin star first in Ostia and then since 2016 in Fiumicino, has interpreted the best seafood of Rome with coherence, soundness and strong creativity. He understood, before many others, the importance of a region’s identity: both to enhance it the most, so that even those who perhaps only had a superficial perception can discover its essence, and so as to face his role as chef responsibly. We’re very curious to discover what the waves of that sea will bring to Via Romagnosi.
Tuesday 13th October
The Great Masters of Pizza: Francesco and Salvatore Salvo and Gennaro Battiloro
Second event with the series of dinners promoted in partnership with Acqua Panna and S.Pellegrino and which features each night two pizzaioli among the best interpreters of contemporary pizza. This time we’ll have Francesco and Salvatore Salvo (pizzerias Salvo San Giorgio a Cremano and Salvo Napoli), among the most important representatives of pizza in the Naples area, with their famous restaurants in San Giorgio a Cremano – where it all began – and in Naples; with them a pizzaiolo originally from Campania but now based in Tuscany, Gennaro Battiloro (pizzeria Battil’oro, Seravezza, Lucca), pizzaiolo of the year for the Guida Identità Golose 2019. The menu includes five courses, that is to say four pizzas, two for each guest chef, plus a dessert and a cocktail with Sanpellegrino drinks signed by multi-awarded bartender Mattia Pastori. The price is 60 euros not including wines and drinks. One shift only at 8 pm.
Wednesday 14th - Saturday 17 October
The Cuisine of Cristina Bowerman
The week before Identità Golose, the 16th edition of the international congress of fine dining, pastry making and dining room service, a great chef returns to Identità Golose Milano, much appreciated for her magnificent cuisine and the commitment she shows each day as president of the Ambasciatori del Gustoassociation. Cristina Bowerman (Glass Hostaria, Rome, one Michelin star) is an extraordinary point of reference for an urban Italian cuisine: contemporary, aware, rich in technique and creativity, both with an Italian soul and a cosmopolitan production. We could say her cuisine is so Italian it’s not afraid to look abroad, always drawing inspiration, because it’s mature, dynamic, structured and with a strong identity. She will bring it to Milan, in four dinners not to be missed.
You can (and are advised to) book right from now your table by following this link (where you can also find more info).
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
