From Toledo 177 the two-star Michelin chef Giuseppe Iannotti participates in the project by architect Michele De Lucchi and his studio Amdl Circle
In the constant ferment that makes Naples so lively, there is a combination of two elements that is proving to be a real winner: culture and signature cuisine. We have seen it before with ScottoJonno, where in the spaces of the restored Galleria Principe, concerts and readings coexisted with the menus proposed by chef Marco Ambrosino, focused on the dialogue with anthropology. The combination also works at Galleria d’Italia – Napoli, where the new Intesa Sanpaolo Museum is located beside the gastronomic hub of Giuseppe Iannotti, entrepreneur and former two-star Michelin chef at the Krèsios in Telese Terme.
The project by Amdl Circle and Michele De Lucchi to transform part of the historic headquarters of the Banco di Napoli into an art hub – which also includes the restaurant spaces – is part of the greater “Progetto Cultura” by Intesa Sanpaolo (with offices in Milan, Turin, Naples and Venice and 35,000 artworks), a multi-year plan of initiatives through which the Bank expresses its commitment to promote the art and culture of our country.
The idea arose from the desire to transform part of the Banco di Napoli headquarters into an art hub, which will also feature restaurant spaces.
Into this context, following the model of the Galleria d’Italia Torino, where the museum is enhanced by the fine cuisine of the Costardi Bros, comes chef Iannotti’s food project, featuring Luminist, a coffee shop and bistrot, Anthill, a cocktail bar, and Toledo 177, a fine-dining restaurant. In each of these places, Iannotti and his team have developed a cuisine based on the regional tradition of Campania. Using innovative cooking techniques, interactions with other flavours he discovered during his travels and constant experimentation inside the Iannotti Lab, he has succeeded in offering an extremely personal and bold narrative, conscious of memory and visionary at the same time.
«Naples has always been a city in which you can breathe art, from literature to theatre and cinema, including culinary art – explains the chef in speaking of the mission based on which his cuisine fits into the context of the city’s current cultural renaissance – in particular the culinary art of Naples, which has a tradition of cross-fertilisation, due to the dominations it was subject to across the centuries by the Arabs, the French and the Spanish. Just as Naples has acquired and adopted habits, notions, understandings and recipes from other cultures, I hope that in the same way – says Iannotti – I might acquire the history of the regional cuisine to re-elaborate it in a contemporary perspective. It all starts from my love for the stories, the legends, the particularities of this place, which make it unique». Dishes such as the gyoza with whipped cod are served at the tables of the bistrot, and lamb with shellfish at those of the restaurant. The world of cocktails at Anthill is a very special experience: served with tapas, Anna Garuti’s signature cocktail is inspired by the characters of the book “Lo Cunto de li Cunti”.
They are actual stories in the form of drinks and mysterious ingredients.
Every story has its own container that tells the story, together with the raw materials of the drinks, of a character or an anecdote related to the culture and literature of Campania. The names of the signature drinks anticipate a story that will only be revealed at the moment of tasting: from Drunken Donkey to the Fairy’s Blasphemy to From the Crystal Tear. Breakfast at the coffee shop is a triumph of delicious flavours, from the sweet to the savoury.
«We are trying to build our own personal, unique model, that can work for four different dining experiences, which are sisters but different at the same time, each with its own specificity and special requirements – continues the chef, illustrating the business model for the restaurant hub, founded on exchange and sharing, support and the collaboration between bistrot, restaurant and coffee shop, and with the cocktail bar». Not just food but art too. Through February 16th, in particular, there will be an exhibit of works by Andy Warhol. Triple Elvis, curated by Luca Massimo Barbera, seeks to convey the artist’s experimentation based on the piece Triple Elvis created in 1963, the year in which he worked on repeating images for the first time. Those were the years in which Warhol began to insert people he himself defined as “famous” into his works. Contextually, one can see his evolution in the 1960s and early 70s through three important graphic cycles: Marilyn, Mao Tse-Tug and Electric Chairs.
La Genovese by Giuseppe Iannotti (Photo: Alberto Blasetti)
Ingredients
Golden onions 4 kg
Pork shoulder muscle 1 kg
Beef shank 1 kg
Oil
Black pepper grains
Pecorino cheese
Parmesan cheese
“Ziti” or “rigatoni” pasta
Instructions
Sauté the meat with the diced onions and extra-virgin olive oil. Add half a cup of white wine if necessary (I prefer not to use it) and cook slowly for six hours, or until the onion has completely liquefied and the meat is soft and shredded. When the sauce is ready, boil a pot of water, salt when boiling and thrown in the ziti, broken by hand to the desired length. Drain the pasta “al dente”, flavor with the Genovese sauce and add abundant pecorino and parmigiano. Pepper as needed.
On the cover: Gallerie d’Italia – Napoli. Project: AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi.
(Photo: Luca Rotondo. Courtesy AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi).
