Giancarlo Perbellini found his nest and his Ithaca at 12 Apostoli, and Verona found a happy son. Today, the restaurant at number 3 Vicolo Corticella San Marco is an enchanting place, combining a dizzying history with an extremely contemporary concept of dining.
The chef
Giancarlo Perbellini has come full circle in recent times. He did so at around the age of sixty, a time when many feel their lives are slipping away, but for the chef from Bovolone, it was when everything finally fell into place. Thus came the opportunity of a lifetime, the chance to settle in a historic restaurant in Verona, Il 12 Apostoli, which Filippo Gioco, fourth generation of the family that has marked a century of life of the oldest restaurant in Italy, wanted to leave. In that restaurant named after twelve merchants who ate and schemed there every day at a certain point in the 18th century and whom the popular wit of Verona had nicknamed the twelve apostles (but without Christ), a young Giancarlo began his career some forty years ago, more or less.
An offer he couldn't refuse, the closing of the first circle. But yes, of course. And there, shortly afterwards, the third star finally arrived, obtained last November in Brescia, on an evening when everyone was moved by ‘Perbe’ (and he most of all, of course!) as had never happened before for a new three-star chef, not even for the much-loved Mauro Uliassi. Not even for the hugely popular Antonino Cannavacciuolo a few years earlier. Perbellini found his nest and his Ithaca at 12 Apostoli, and Verona found a happy son. Today, the restaurant at number 3 Vicolo Corticella San Marco is an enchanting place, combining a dizzying history with an extremely contemporary concept of dining.
The restaurant
The restaurant is divided into three rooms: the Vòlto, the Affreschi, and the Chef's Table. The latter is the true essence of Giancarlo Perbellini. Here, there is a large corner kitchen that cannot simply be described as open; it is a veritable stage teeming with characters who are busy but orderly, like toy soldiers. Witnessing this spectacle of varied artistry are twelve diners (the number is not random, need we explain?) who eat together at a shared table but, compared to other omakase restaurants, enjoy greater privacy because smaller tables branch off from the central table like petals. This is an ingenious way to avoid commenting on the texture of that eel with the engineer you don't know on your right rather than your wife on your left. Of course, a slightly different menu is served at this table than at traditional tables. We will see how and what later.
Participants at the Chef's Table are also treated to a tour, usually before but sometimes after dinner, of the museum section of the restaurant, which tells its story. You can peek into the glass and metal capsule that houses the wine cellar with its unparalleled labels, a monolithic hi-tech temple under a frescoed sky. Have you ever seen such a seamless blend of ancient and contemporary? Then you visit the actual wine cellar, inside a space that preserves Roman and medieval remains. How many restaurants can also be a destination of archaeological importance? Finally, in the small library, you come into contact with the restaurant's 20th-century history, which deserves a separate paragraph.
I 12 Apostoli was opened in 1920 by Antonio and Rosella Gioco on the site where, for centuries, there had been a tavern frequented by a ragtag group of merchants. The circumstances under which the penniless Antonio found the money for the venture were bizarre: he was working in a hotel and happened to mention his project to a customer who fell in love with it and offered to provide the necessary guarantees for the bank to release the funds. That customer was Arnoldo Mondadori. It was Antonio's son, Giorgio, who built the legend of this restaurant after World War II. Giorgio, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 94 (and would therefore have turned 100 this year), made it a place where traditional cuisine reigned supreme, to the point that when, years later, his grandson Filippo transformed it into a fine dining restaurant, the now very elderly Giorgio commented: “I would have preferred him to turn it into a bicycle storage facility”. Yet it was also a cultured place, frequented by writers and journalists: Gianni Brera, Giulio Nascimbeni, Indro Montanelli, Cesare Marchi.
From this gathering came the idea of founding a literary prize, inspired by a famous phrase written many years earlier, in 1937, by the great Orio Vergani, who, dipping his pen in the literary atmosphere of the place, wrote in the guest book: “If I had lived in Verona instead of the Bagutta Prize, I would have founded the 12 Apostles Prize”. No sooner said than done. Three decades later, but that's okay. Ah, some people used to call the Veronese prize the ‘anti-prize’ because there was no cash prize, just a dinner to celebrate. And that's saying something. And then there are the pens. Giorgio Gioco had a habit of asking anyone who wrote for a living (well, of course) and found themselves eating at the 12 Apostoli to leave one of their pens in storage, as if to preserve a trace of their powerful prose: and so Ezra Pound, Leonardo Sciascia, Mario Soldati, Giuseppe Guareschi, and Indro Montenelli. And also some who left their mark on the world with more than just their writings, such as Federico Fellini, Lech Walesa, and Maria Callas. Montblanc and ballpoint pens, what matters is what those pens have written, not what they are worth.
Today, the 12 Apostoli still feeds on the spirit of Gioco, but above all on Perbellini's strong thinking, and never mind if his cuisine would probably not convince Mr. Giorgio with his bicycle storage facilities. Perbellini is the creator of a classicist cuisine that never stands still. He likes to consider himself an avant-gardist in his own way, “because,” he tells me, “if I look at the dishes I made thirty years ago, I don't recognize myself in them, so I can say that I have been avant-garde in my own right.” But you won't find any Spanish-style “olés” or theatrical gestures here, just an elegant and refined substance, a flavor that is always clear and limpid.
The dishes
There are three menus: Io e Silvia (Silvia and I), which celebrates the bond with his wife who has helped and saved him on many occasions throughout his life, consisting of six courses plus a welcome dish for €230; Storie di Casa (Stories from Home), an anthology of historic dishes for €250; and L’Essenza (The Essence), an entirely vegetarian menu for €220. Chef's Table customers are treated to a MenuX12 based on Io e Silvia, with four bonus tracks that may change from day to day. The price in this case is also extra-large, at €380. The meal begins with a series of snacks, served all together: among them, a sphere containing a cocktail made with rum, strawberry, and passion fruit, yogurt, and lemon zest; nori seaweed chips, guacamole, and wasabi; a cumin shortcrust tartlet with carrot and Taggiasca olive cream; and a crusco pepper stuffed with tomato, egg, and Parmesan cheese.
Then, after an iced zabaglione with smoked caviar, which is the first surprise on the menu, balancing sweet and savory, and after the arrival of focaccia and bread on the table, here comes Perbellini's “My Way,” the sesame wafer with sea bass tartare, goat cheese with chives, and the sensation of licorice that comes from a spoon dipped in syrup that you put in your mouth in an act of trust, making absence a presence. Then comes a barbecued tomato with celery vinegar gel and mustard bernese sauce, which is a masterpiece of simplicity (throughout the evening, I am particularly struck by the dishes with the most humble ingredients), followed by a slightly pink sea bream with lemon reduction, Cantabrian anchovies, and a sprout salad (the second surprise on the menu).
Then the slice of yellowtail with zucchini carpaccio, sea urchins, and safflower citronette, a close relative of saffron. Then, confirming the triumph of simplicity, the magnificent potato gnocchi with potato foam and bottarga (third surprise).
A brief excursion into the world of pasta with Fusillone Cavalieri al dente (very al dente) with clam water, shellfish bisque, creamy 'nduja, and burnt lemon powder. Finally, the two main courses: veal with burnt onion powder, pigeon breast ragout, and burrata cream, and barbecued duck with apricot caramel and mitzuna rocket juice (fourth off-menu item).
For dessert, first a pepper crumble with pepper ice cream, white chocolate, and elderflower mousse, followed by butterfly and rhubarb with ginger sorbet, and petits fours. The dining room runs like clockwork, and even a more delicate service such as that of the Chef's Table is flawless.
Address
Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli
Vicolo Corticella San Marco 3, 37121 Verona
Phone: +39 045 8780860 | INFO@CASAPERBELLINI.COM
