Talks, dinners, super tastings: Festa a Vico, an event that celebrates Italian cuisine every year, has just ended. "I am very satisfied: in addition to raising 255,000 euros for charity for the projects of 7 non-profit organizations, we offered extraordinary and high-level content," exults organizer Gennaro Esposito.
The event
The program this year was dense: a three-day event of debates, great dinners and unmissable tastings, as well as the usual reunion of chefs and producers along the Seiano walk and through the streets of Vico Equense, which gathered an enthusiastic crowd as always.
They obviously talked about the candidacy of Italian cuisine as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage element (and it could not have been otherwise); but also about sustainability (the concept of "one health," the coincidence of individual and collective health according to Matteo Lorito, chancellor of the Federico II University of Naples); women's cuisine (on stage with Elle editor Alessandra Pon, the young chefs Arianna Gatti, Erika Gotta, Agnese Loss and Carlotta Delicato, according to Esposito "four wild panthers") and much more.
Not to be missed were the wine tastings, conducted by the three Italian Masters of Wine, Gabriele Gorelli, Andrea Lonardi and Pietro Russo, together with the producers. For example, the charismatic Frank Cornelissen, compared with Luca Roagna on the topic: are Etna wines the nebbiolo of the south of Italy? Between similarities and differences, beyond inferiority complexes.
To continue with the masterclass on contemporary wines from ancient grape varieties, which surprisingly crowned Lambrusco, according to Gorelli the most contemporary wine today. And again Dr Loosen from the Mosel, aged Italian whites as seen by Walter Massa, volcanic wines, from the Azores to Soave, through Campania and Sicily, the vertical tasting of Nova Domus Terlano and Maison Lallier in Champagne. Finally, the last day was dedicated to pairings, with a parade of great sommeliers.
The gala dinner, introduced by signature bites by Antonia Klugmann, Paolo Rota, Giancarlo Morelli, Davide Oldani, Claudio Sadler and Emanuele Scarello, culminated in the 7-course menu, which featured Alessandro Negrini with an interpretation of saffron risotto; Christophe Pelé of Le Clarence, author of an elegant surf-and-turf tripe with squid ink; Andrea Aprea with a ricotta bottone dipped in the ultrariduction of Neapolitan ragù; Gaetano Trovato with his flawless pigeon with cherries; Cristiano Tomei with his version of a lemon escalope, a mimetic leaf fritter; Anthony Genovese, superlative at dessert presented a meringue filled with buffalo mozzarella mousse, strawberries, basil and gentian, with calibrated acid/bitter layers.
No less impressive was the Dinner of Promises, which brought together fifteen young talents, including Angelo Bonfitto of Zu, Guido Paternollo of Pellico 3 Milano, and Daniele Rebosio of Hostaria Ducale in Genoa. Gennaro Esposito, the usual force of nature, draws the line under a record balance: "For us it was the 21st edition, considering the three years of stop. And this year in a special way we decided that the event should take on a shape more in keeping with the times and our goals, bringing together the excellences of our world on tables of work and reflection.
Several topics were discussed in the conferences, including the long-desired UNESCO medal, which would be of wonderful value and would bring us even higher in consideration abroad as well, for the values of conviviality, history and anthropology that distinguish us. Then the evolution of wine in the restaurant industry and women's cuisine, a topic that runs the risk of being taken for granted, but with a different slant it captivates if the leading players are right. Very high level tastings, with an original edge and without didactic excesses: Frank Cornelissen, Dr Loosen, a sacred monster, volcanic wines introduced by a volcanologist. Beautiful as always the young talents' dinner and extraordinary the pairings lunch, which was rarely the center of attention, with the sommeliers telling the mariage of the heart. An emotional moment for me.
This year at the gala dinner we have also invited foreign chefs, with a mixture of Italians who have been successful abroad and offer a throwback cuisine that works. The Accademia Maestri Pasticcieri Italiani (Italian Master Pastry Chefs Academy) then curated an extraordinary and sophisticated buffet. Meanwhile, the streets came alive with the typical events of Festa a Vico, the Republic of Food, the Seiano Walk and the other convivial occasions that have always distinguished us.
I am very pleased with how it went: beyond the fact that we raised 255 thousand euros for charity to support the projects of 7 non-profit organizations, the content was extraordinary and top notch. Oscillating between cultural and folksy moments, the impression is that perhaps we deserve a different attention, and we need to work on this with more determination. Gratitude is never enough for chefs, producers and sommeliers who again this year renewed their support for us and at whose service we are committed to placing an increasingly high-performing organization."
