This is how maestro Corrado  Assenza begins the 17th edition of the technical symposium on contemporary Italian pizza, organised by Petra - Molino Quaglia. Which this year has changed logo and location. Moving from the headquarters in Vighizzolo d'Este to Milan: to the East End Studios in Via Mecenate. An intense, immersive, disruptive, provocative, adrenaline-fuelled, revolutionary two-day event. Balanced between analogue and digital, central stage (strictly circular) and side chef's tables, lectures and fermentations, workshops and tastings, focus on cereals and vegetable digressions, darkness and artificial lights. To feel in another dimension: almost inside a smartphone screen.

“A highly emotional symposium,” declares Franco Angioni, directly from Poppy's, in Carbonia, the heart of the Sulcis Iglesiente region.

“One with a wow impact”, says Cristian Marasco of Grotta Azzurra in Merate. “Overwhelming”, as Tommaso Vatti of La Pergola in Radicondoli exclaims. Adding: “Casa Molino Quaglia is always casa Molino Quaglia. There is an air of familiarity. But changing location and making a strong impression has been positive. It generated new input. Interacting with the outside public had its great appeal”.

Because therein lies the point. The great novelty of the symposium was precisely the opening to the public (more than 900 people attended and no less than 170 pizza chefs were at work with six ovens), on the evening of the 7th November, thanks to the PizzaUp & Friends event. In the name of the highest interaction between professionals and consumers and in the name of an absolute connection between the arts. Always keeping faith with the mantra of the symposium: Doing good against scarcity. Which means first and foremost valuing not only the raw material, but also suppliers, collaborators and customers. To nurture a virtuous sense of belonging. And then avoiding waste, respecting and acting for the good of the community. So much so that the entire proceeds of the evening were donated to Food For Soul, the project desired and supported by Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore. Who, stepping into the limelight, even suggested how to recover and reuse the pizza crusts left on the plate, translating them into passatelli. "In a recipe there can be a solution to a problem. Let's be creative and waste a little less”.

"The event open to the public was a terra incognita. We took a gamble. It could have gone badly as well as it could have gone well. It went very well. Milan responded with surprising enthusiasm,” says Piero Gabrieli, Petra's marketing director.

“We went from an exclusively educational PizzaUp to a more spectacular PizzaUp. Perhaps we are taking home the right concepts to make the experience in a pizzeria somehow more exciting and empathetic. We have to make guests dream,” comments Mirko Petracci of La  Scaletta in Ascoli Piceno. And here is our report on the show. Through Thorsten Stobbe's photo reportage, just click the link below.


Cristina Viggè
source: https://www.identitagolose.it/ermes/newsletter/?id=601

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