Identità Golose Guide 2019: presentation and awards to the rising stars

Sunny day in Milan, like one of those days - in a usually grey Milan - particularly dear to Paolo Marchi, co—founder of Identità Golose, the Italian congress of International cuisine with fulfilled ambitions as gastronomy hub (with Identità Golose Milano) and restaurant guide.

A guide that reached today the XII edition, insisting and reinforcing the preference/need of the web format instead of the paper one and hosts 722 Italian restaurants and 302 abroad, with ‘cards’ provided by 101 collaborators, including your Hungry Italian in Town.

I said ‘cards’ because as Claudio Ceroni - co-founder of Identità Golose - mentioned today, “the restaurants in the guide are not reviewed but narrated by our experts”, and personally this is the approach I’ve always tried to follow with Hungry Italian in Town and that brought me to collaborate with them.

The topic of the ‘narration’ is mentioned again by Paolo in his introduction, when talking about the risk for chefs, in a highly social media-influenced world, to chase the plate for the perfect picture while leaving the taste behind. Therefore, the need for a narration that brings people inside the plate and not just ‘over it’.

The presentation of the guide, as every year, has been as well the opportunity to present the rising stars (under 40 years old) of the Italian gastronomy, people who have been able, over the past year/s, to communicate their own way to make food, to drink wine, to bake bread, to welcome customers.

Here’s the full list. Congrats to them all.

Best Chef: Gianluca Gorini - Da Gorini, Karime Lopez - Gucci Osteria

Best non Italian Chef: Ricard Camarena - Ricard Camarena

Surprise of the year: Alberto Gipponi - Dea

Best Pastry Chef: Lucia De Prai – The Cook

Best Sous-Chef: Remo Capitaneo – Enrico Bartolini al Mudec

Best Pizzaiolo: Gennaro Battiloro – Battil’oro

Best Sommelier: Anna Cardin – Belmond Hotel Cipriani, Emanuele Izzo – Piazzetta Milù

Best Maitre: Alberto Tasinato – L’Alchimia

Best Bread Basket: Valentino Cassanelli – Lux Lucis

Beer in the kitchen: Giuseppe Lo Iudice e Alessandro Miocchi – Retrobottega