L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 4 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS very much active, as his son in law and pres iden t of the Gualtiero Marchesi Foundation, Enrico Dandolo, declared to La Repubblica: "he was rewriting all of his most popular and inno- vative recipes. His last was a fully photographic book, pic- tures of his dishes... but you know the way it is, chefs tend to reinterpret and pers onalize recipes, so he had decided to codify all of his own master- pieces once and for all. It was important for him they could be made in the future the way he had conceived them." The career of G ualtiero M arches i s tarted in M ilan, where he was born on the 19 th of March 1930, in the kitchen of his ow n parents ' hotel, the Albergo Mercato. His culinary education, however, had a dis- tinctively Swiss flavor, created by the experience at the Kulm of St Moritz and the studies fol- lowed at the culinary school of Lucerne. Back in Italy, it was once again in the Mercato's kitchen he began to experiment, laying the foundations for a style that was to make him a pioneer in the world of nouvelle cuisine in his country. It was in France, however, he honed his skills - Paris, Dijon, Roanne - before travelling back to Milan in 1977 t o o p e n h i s f i r s t r e s t a u r a n t : within 12 months, he would get his first Michelin star. In 1985, the French culinary institution awarded Marchesi's eatery with three stars, a never-seen-before feat in the Bel Paese. These are the years of his "total cuisine," where food was only a part of a culinary experience made of fla- vors and textures, but also of the way they were delivered on the plate and table; an experience where everything, from plates a n d c u t l e r y t o t a b l e s e t t i n g brought something special and unique to dining. He became Cavaliere della Repubblica in 1986 and Chevalier dans l'Or- dre des Artes et des Lettres, the title's French version, in 1990, a n a w a r d t h a t i n a u g u r a t e d a decade of further innovation and international recognition. It was, indeed, in the 1990s that Marchesi delved into the emerg- ing culinary trends offered by bistrot and café food, opening brunch-style venues in Milan, a l o n g w i t h a n e w G u a l t i e r o M a r c h e s i r e s t a u r a n t a t t h e Halkin Hotel in London. The noughties carried along yet another breath of fresh air and creativity in the work and life of Marchesi, with the open- ing of a Michelin starred restau- rant in Place Vendôme, in Paris, and the revamping of Rome's own oldest osteria, the Hostaria d e l l ' O r s o , r e w a r d e d w i t h a Michelin star within a year from its inauguration. In 2002, the International Academy of Gas- tronomy awarded him with the Grand Prix Mémoire et Grati- tude, its most prestigious recog- n i t i o n . I n 2 0 0 8 , M a r c h e s i returned to Milan, in one of his city's most quintessential cor- Farewell to Gualtiero Marchesi Maestro of Italian Cuisine ners, near La Scala: here, he opened Il Marchesino, a restau- rant-cum-caffetteria conceived, in its nature and culinary offer- ings, for the people working and going to the theatre. Aware of the importance of education, in 2004 Marchesi founded Alma, his international school of Italian cuisine, in Col- orno near Parma, a city in itself synonym with Italy's best culi- nary traditions. Back in Milan, i n 2 0 1 4 , h e i n a u g u r a t e d t h e Accademia Gualtiero Marchesi and, a year later, he was nomi- n a t e d C h e f A m b a s s a d o r f o r E X P O 2 0 1 5 . E v e n h i s l a s t announced project, a retirement home for chefs which will open this year in Varese, somehow placed Marchesi up there, in the Olympus of Italy's great cre- ative geniuses: Giuseppe Verdi, one of Italy's purest musical minds, strongly desired the cre- a t i o n o f a s i m i l a r p l a c e f o r a g i n g m u s i c i a n s a n d o p e r a singers. And as deserved by all great a r t i s t s a n d c r e a t i v e m i n d s , Marchesi also became protago- nist of a docu-film, Marchesi, the Great Italian, pre-screened at the 2017 Cannes Film Festi- val, which will be officially pre- sented on the 19 th of March this year, on the anniversary of his birth. And as all artists, March- esi let sometimes his "genio" take the lead over the estab- lished rule, just like when, 10 years ago, he returned to the sender his Michelin stars, say- ing that good food didn't need to be judged by anyone. H i s i n h e r i t a n c e r e m a i n s , i m m e n s e a n d c h e r i s h e d , n o t only in his own restaurants, pro- jects and recipes, but also in the work of the many chefs, Italian and non-Italians, who trained with him: Enrico Crippa, three Michelin stars chef of Piazza Duomo in Alba, Carlo Cracco of Ristorante Cracco in Milan - one of the best 50 in the world, and Ernst Knam, pasticcere and c h o c o l a t e e x p e r t w i t h a renowned store in Milan, are only some among them. It is in their words, perhaps, that Italy should try to voice its very own moment of mourning for such an icon of its culinary tradition a n d c u l t u r e : " H e ' s b e e n t h e greatest, a par excellence inno- vator. Milan should dedicate a museum to him," Knam said to La Repubblica, embodying an idea, that of dedicating a place to the Maestro in his city, also proposed by others. It is, however, in the simple words of Carlo Cracco that, her- metically and with touching emotion, Italy's heart finds the way to say goodbye to a man who gave a shape to the idea of food as art, without ever forget- ting the flavorsome - and often humble - roots of his country's cuisine. "Ciao Maestro. E grazie." Continued from page 1 Marchesi' s career started in Milan, where he was born in 1930 He was the first Italian to be awarded three Michelin stars in 1985

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