A former shirt factory transformed into an open space and an American-style apartment, a kitchen to envy and a large table capable of hosting dinners with numerous friends. All enriched by a contagious energy, African paintings of a thousand colors and architectural books scattered almost everywhere ...
I understand that you always work, in a space like this who wouldn't? It really seems to be in a big metropolis, such as in Milan, a city that you love very much ...
“Yes, I'm a lucky man and professional. I have always worked independently, carrying out my ideas and beliefs. I came across this building by chance, fifteen years ago, when I was looking for a slightly larger office. Do you think this was an old shirt factory. I started by renting it until I bought it and I also made it my home, a bit like it happens in America, with spaces destined for personal and working life, as I dreamed of ».
What about your kitchen? I know that you really like organizing dinners with friends and that of course you have a passion for food and wine, but do you also cook?
"Not really ... (we laugh), let's say that I like to invite friends who know how to cook, but I am committed to the choice of wines (satisfied)".
There are many statues, paintings and art objects: a collection that certainly does not arise in a few days ...
«I have always been passionate about art, but more than value I fall in love with the artist's story: these (he points out to me two large wooden statues) I received for hosting a sculptor friend. The paintings (very large and colorful canvases) come from Santo Domingo and are made by an artist I met during a trip. I have to be honest: I like art of a certain level, but it costs too much ».
Before the interview I asked a couple of mutual friends to tell me about you, but in the end no one really knows your past ...
«I was born in Zurich, my mother was from Belluno and my father from the Canton of Glarus. When I was two, my father came to Ticino: he felt so comfortable that, within a few months, he moved the whole family here. I only remember his face of him and that he owned an appliance store. Unfortunately he died when I was only eighteen ».
Your mother, left alone, sent you on vacation to relatives in Veneto during the summer. A land you are still very fond of ...
“That's where I formed my character. We were "daredevils" so to speak. With friends we left in the morning and the first purpose of the day was to find something to eat. We climbed on fruit trees and went fishing: the passion for fishing was born at that time and still accompanies me after so many years. In short, for me the Veneto has always meant a life of freedom. I learned to adapt, to think before acting; in the woods a false move is enough to get hurt and, if you think about it, things aren't so different in the workplace ».
Your first diploma was that of a designer, but after the raids as a youth, I can imagine that the office was tight for you ...
«Actually… after two years I changed jobs. I started selling clothes, I was a salesman. It was a wonderful time, I was traveling all over Switzerland, working intensely for a few months and then I had just as much free time. In the meantime, having a sporting past (since I was a young man I played basketball), I started dabbling on the tennis courts and for two years I also worked as a monitor. A profession that I liked very much, I was in charge of the playing fields at Campo Marzio near the Lido of Lugano. That was hard work, you had to get up at dawn to prepare the fields, give lessons during the day and in the evening you were the last to close the gate ».
Is it at this point that you turned your life around?
“I still have that scene in my mind. It was morning, I was preparing the courts, when my gaze fell on an elderly tennis teacher. At that moment I realized that I would not be able to continue that life forever and, with a bit of courage, I gave up everything and opened my first sportswear company. At that time, let's talk about the '80s, windsurfing was fashionable, so I started selling avant-garde and colorful technical material, and I had a good success ».
You then became an importer of a large brand linked to sportswear. You also produced garments for them, perhaps not a flash career, there were sacrifices, but certainly satisfying ...
“I like my life, everything that has happened has had a reason for it. It is also thanks to Kappa that I arrived here today. I never calculated the time I dedicated to work, there was no difference between a Sunday and a Monday, for me work has always been everything, because I have always done it with great pleasure, it also allowed me to shoot the world and get to know a multitude of cuisines and tastes.
I know that family is also very important to you. When did you meet your wife?
“We were very young. We have been together for more than forty years, even though I still lived with my mother when I was engaged. Although she has always worked a lot, Ebe has always been close to me and, now that I spend more time at home, we get along much better. Over time we get to know each other better and the edges of the character are smoothed. I'm certainly a man to put limits on and she has been able to do it in the right way. We have a son, who lives in Lausanne, where he graduated in architecture. A passion, I like to think, that I passed on to him ».
Time passes, habits change, but the attention towards clothing has remained with you. I don't know many men who use braces ...
"Now I don't give them up anymore, they help me to stay comfortable since the belt is always a little too tight after certain dinners (nice laugh)"
In 2009 you sold your main business and today you are only involved in, so to speak, the food and wine event par excellence in Ticino: S. Pellegrino Sapori Ticino. In short, you have transformed another passion of yours into a real job ...
“As often happens in life, things happen by chance. It was a Saturday, a beautiful day, and I was at the Sant'Abbondio restaurant in Sorengo, at the time of my great friend Martin Dalsass, who together with Dario Ranza helped me a lot in the development of the event. We were four friends sitting on the terrace and chatting we began to wonder why people no longer go to restaurants of a certain level. At that precise moment we decided to organize some gourmet evenings. It must be said that ten years ago there was still no talk of food and wine, this term entered the common language only a few years later ».
Already during the second edition you had multi-starred Italian chefs and the precious sponsorship of S. Pellegrino ...
«Just look at this press review, it is that of last year, of the tenth edition. Translated into money, all the articles written about us are worth 1 million six hundred thousand francs. More and more newspapers, including television, are interested in us. I have always focused on visibility and today I must say that we have been rewarded. After years of work and experience we can have the best chefs in the world almost for free, Chefs that normally cost up to 20 thousand francs per evening. It is true that for some years we have introduced a reimbursement of expenses, but frankly it is not even enough to pay all the staff they carry around ».
A small team, you told me about four people, who managed to give life to an exhibition known worldwide ...
«A big thank you goes to my collaborators, Dina, Carlotta and Marco, without them it would be impossible to follow everything, but also to Grazia Saporiti, our press officer, with whom we have been working for many years. It was she who suggested that we give a theme to each edition, so as to interest the cooks and especially the press. I remember beautiful editions, like the one dedicated solely to female Chefs, or last year's one with sixty Michelin stars. In fact, in 2016 ten chefs with three Michelin stars arrived, an edition like this I think no other festival has ever had. This year, however, we will have guests the Chefs of Le Soste, an Italian association that brings together all the best Italian restaurants and we will organize 26 events in total ».
It must not be easy to manage such personalities in a kitchen ...
«I must say that we have never had any problems (he pauses for a moment to think). No, that's not true, only once, but it was my fault: I put two chefs in the same kitchen who couldn't stand each other very much… fire and flames! However, all the Chefs I have met are usually very flexible people, but above all with us they never pose as superstars, they adapt to our style and they are all enchanted by the beauty of Ticino. Some of the most beautiful moments of the event are experienced in the kitchen, perhaps at the end of the evening, when we find ourselves eating, drinking and chatting after the service. In the end, the best promotion is made by the Chefs themselves when they return to their countries and tell what S. Pellegrino Sapori Ticino really is ».
When it comes to art, the term artist is associated with someone who invents something new. Is it the same in the kitchen?
"Of course. It must also be said that really good Chefs have many talents, because talent is not only that of knowing how to cook, but also a sort of mental predisposition, they must be able to face great challenges. The satisfactions are many, but their life is hard, they work when we eat, they wake up very early and, thinking of the chef patrons, chef owners, everything is on their shoulders. We are talking about important turnover for the most famous clubs in the world ».
You knew Benoît Violier, one of the most famous chefs in the world who unfortunately committed suicide, he had the success, the popularity that everyone dreams of and yet ...
«He was truly extraordinary, positive, always smiling, his gesture left everyone amazed. I think he got to the point where everything was “too much”… his restaurant was making incredible sales and was at the top in the world of gastronomy, it probably had a psychological breakdown at the wrong time ».
Let's go back to Ticino, we also have excellent cooks and excellent wines, I know that you are a great enthusiast ...
«In fact, I have many Ticino wines in my cellar and I believe that some are really worthy of being known all over the world. It would be enough to do a blind tasting to prove it! As far as the Ticino chefs and restaurants are concerned, from my point of view we are really at excellent levels ».
Always a topical issue: catering which, linked to tourism, is going through a long period of crisis ...
«In my working life, as mentioned, I have often had the opportunity to be away from home and having to eat at a restaurant (I have visited over 1.200 in recent years). All over the world, but especially in Italy, food and wine has always been the flagship of tourism. In Ticino, on the other hand, we are paying for years of management without a vision of the future, done in a short-sighted way and always based on the same factors, without focusing on novelty. We have waited too long to transform food and wine into the attractive spring of local tourism, despite the fact that great excellences have always been available. I'm not saying that all restaurants should aim for a Michelin star, but work closely with producers to offer quality dishes, even simple ones. This is what remains in the mind of a tourist, especially if a good meal is accompanied by good Ticino wines and our magnificent views ».
But don't you think it's the fault of the prices?
«Let's stop saying that Ticino is expensive. I'll give you an example: if I eat a good fresh sea bass in a restaurant, I pay for it between fifty and sixty francs. If you go shopping (I haven't been there for years now, because I had the vice and the pleasure of buying me the whole shop), you can immediately realize that fresh fish is expensive in Ticino, so the rates applied by the restaurants I'm not that out of the box. Of course, if you go to Ponte Tresa and eat a farmed sea bass, you pay less, but it's not the same thing! If, on the other hand, you eat a good sea bass, the cost is similar. From my point of view, the real problem is that in all the institutions that deal with tourism, you rarely find entrepreneurs and for this reason we lack initiative ».
I imagine that despite everything you are organizing for this year your mind is already projected into the future ...
(Laughs) «Sure. The most important project will be to nominate Lugano as a City of Taste for 2018. It would be fantastic if our city were chosen and became part of one of the most famous and important food and wine events in Switzerland ».
But how do you always have all this energy?
«I am convinced of one thing: giving is always more beautiful than receiving, whether it is money, time, projects… I, by doing my job, reload myself and this is perhaps why I always manage to produce new ideas. As I said: if you work for yourself, you never calculate hours, so you are led to have more experiences. I must also say that in everything I have done I have always put a lot of passion, the same passion that all those who have to shape the future of Ticino must have, especially the young, because the future is in their hands ».
