But let's take a step back. Valentino Tafuri, born in 1989 in Battipaglia, in Cilento, Italy, has been working with flour and dough since he was only 13. After school, at the weekend, as soon as he could, he’d always run to the pizzeria. Perhaps this is why, today, talking to him brings back a burst of enthusiasm and competence. He is focused, loves challenges, thinks quality can always be improved. If only days weren’t made of only 24 hours.

After years as an employee in other pizzerias in Salerno, the choice, shared by the family, to open the now well-established 3voglie, also in Battipaglia. He likes to call it a pizzeria, rather than a classic pizzeria. A laboratory of different ideas and doughs, the meeting with Petra- Molino Quaglia and the desire to offer customers seasonal recipes, linked to the territory. An apparently simple format, though the steps that preceded the great digestibility served on the plate today were complex.

"When I was a kid, I started with the classic pizza, the one that was kneaded in the afternoon and baked a few hours later. Back then the sacks were 50 kg, there was only one type of flour and we were fine with that. Of course, if I look at all this today, I realise that we have really come a long way.”

So 3voglie encapsulates three happy moments: eating, drinking and conviviality. Then it was time for a lucky encounter with Giovanna Voria, the country chef famous for her strong connection with her Cilento region. "She introduced me to the Cilento pizza, back in 2015-2016. That's when I realised that if I wanted to make a difference in pizza, I had to approach the principles of great bread-making.” 

Machinery, workshops, electric ovens, “what I know is that pizza and bread are two different worlds that need to go hand in hand. For me it was an epiphany: pizza-making required techniques that are specific to bread-making, that was the only way to improve it.” 

With Tafuri, we now bounce back from a prebaking product to sourdough, between impeccable cooking and ever-increasing hydration. "I use flours that allow me this form of experiment and I intend to remain firmly in my own world.”


Nadia Taglialatela
source: https://www.identitagolose.it/ermes/newsletter/?id=646

Leggi il testo integrale nel link FONTE (qui sopra)