Garantito IGP: The True Story of Mattias, the Commendable Snow Cook

This time, Stefano Tesi speaks:

Regardless of the Michelin star (which does in any case mean something), his restaurant in Livigno is a rare bird in the stuffy gastronomic scene of the "Piccolo Tibet," where, alas, precooked pizzoccheri and tourist menus still reign supreme. A gastronomic story that plays out with courage, passion, and many stories.

His motto is, "I don't get older, but fatter." Even so, nothing about Mattias Peri (who, truth be told, is not at all sylph-like) is the least bit abominable, not even in a place that is seriously snow-bound: Livigno, at an elevation of more than 1800 meters, a town in the upper Valtellina subject to record-breaking cold (-42 C (-43.6 F), personally experienced in 1985) and record-breaking sales of duty-free goods.

Ah, the duty free goods: a boon and a bane for a village that, thanks to its being declared duty free, emerged from the quicksands of poverty, only to bog down in commerce.
And thus the problems of today, a sprawling shopping center buy & run tourism, and visitors who are undemanding at table, with the effects that this inevitably has upon restaurant quality.

A pity, because Livigno, in addition to boasting beautiful trails and 7 months of snow per year, has a long history and culture well worth getting to know.

And since no man is a prophet in his own land, especially in small towns, the story of Mattias and his wife Manuela is unsurprising. In 2001 they opened Chalet Mattias, the restaurant they had long desired and set their hopes on: The goal was to create, in the land of precooked pizzoccheri and 12-euro tourist menus, a Gourmet Restaurant. They succeeded (in 2009 the establishment became the third starred restaurant in the Province of Sondrio), but it wasn't easy. I can confirm this personally, having dined there several times over the years, noting with pleasure how much the restaurant improved, and how hard they worked, in a setting that had little interest in quality dining.

The Chalet Mattias (which also offers six beautiful double rooms, with breakfast, starting at 60 Euros per person), is located in a pretty baita at the outskirts of town. Just seven tables, and 35 seats, a cozy atmosphere with carved wood décor, cooking that is creative but not overdone, an excellent cellar (the wine list is on site), with a considerable selection of wines from the Valtellina, in addition to Italian and international wines (the low markups, in a tax-free area, are an invitation to buy!).

Among the many delights, the chef's greeting with shrimp tails wrapped in lard and topped with sesame seeds and balsamic vinegar, sciatt (a substantial, classic dish of the Valtellina: diced cheese battered and fried), elegantly tamed by a mustard-based vinaigrette, superb bull fillet cooked in the ashes, and crème brulèe with rhubarb and pine needles.

Manuaela oversees the tables with discrete aplomb, while the chef doesn't hesitate to emerge and ask, honestly, his guests's opinions. At the end of the evening, when things relax and the restaurant empties, it's worth hanging around for a few minutes more to enjoy a distillate and listen to Mattias tell stories of the beginning, when he would go all out to offer his neighbors new dishes, and they, quietly and stubbornly, demanded pasta with meat sauce.

The pricing is noteworthy too. The tasting menu is 48 Euros (excluding wines, which can also be had by the glass), and there is also a nicely thought out "course" option: 28 Euros for one course, 44 for two, 56 for three, and 66 for four.

Chalet Mattias
Via Canton 124, Livigno (SO)
Tel +39 0432 997 794
http://www,chaletmattias.com



We Are:
Carlo Macchi
Kyle Phillips
Luciano Pignataro
Roberto Giuliani
Stefano Tesi

Welcome to IGP!

IGP, I Giovani Promettenti (The Promising Young Men) is a brainchild of Carlo Macchi, Luciano Pignataro and Franco Ziliani, all of whom have way too many ideas: Each week one of them would write an article, on a weekly rotation, and all three would post the articles simultaneously on their sites. Articles not necessarily strictly related to wine, but to topics they thought important.

In January Franco bowed out, and Luciano and Carlo asked Stefano Tesi and Roberto Giuliani to come aboard. Both accepted eagerly, and then they had the rash idea of asking me to join them. So now there are five Promising Young (we are, really!) Men. Here you will find the articles in English, and on their sites in Italian.

And to get to their sites, which are well worth wandering? You'll find links in the right-hand column.

This time the rotation falls to Luciano, who writes:






GARANTITO IGP. Elena Fucci, Marianna Vitale e Giovanna Voria: Stories of Southern Women

If there is one thing in which it is difficult to distinguish between North and South, it is enogastronomy. We can also see this from the fact that women do not need the help of affirmative action laws to emerge. Here are three stories, to tell, eat, and drink.

Elena Fucci is 28 years old. Her grandfather inherited a beautiful vineyard in Contrada Titolo a Barile, in the Vulture. He refused to sell, and still lives there now, well past the age of 90. In 2000 her father Salvatore, who worked as a teacher, decided to stop selling the grapes and begin bottling the wine in the small cellar not far from their home: An extremely difficult challenge considering the years that followed, with the attack on the Twin Towers and the Economic Crisis that rocks us still. Elena took a degree in winemaking at Pisa, and returned to the South to continue in her father's footsteps. With great success, seeing that for the second consecutive year her Aglianico del Vulture Titolo has garnered the most recognition. Her experience bucks the trend with respect to the flight from the South that continues in many other fields.

Marianna Vitale is 30 years old: After working with Lino Scarallo at Palazzo Petrucci she decided to open, with her husband Esposito, the Ristorante Sud at Quarto, in the northern suburbs of Naples. A tremendous challenge, in an out-of-the-way place that attracts no visitors at all. Marianna, however, is creative, innovative, and quick. In just a short time her restaurant became a success, initially primarily due to word of mouth on the Internet, though it has now been picked up by the restaurant guides too. Her story shows that the suburbs are not immune to beauty and hard work.

Giovanna Voria is 50 years old. From Cilento, she opened her agriturismo in a desolate valley not far from the temples of Paestum, tear the headwaters of the Alento river, which gave its name to the wild, bitter, uninhabited lands of the Cilento. Should have prepared the standard fusilli and grilled meats, but instead studied cooking, pastry making and canning year after year, and now her Agriturismo, Corbella, is both a repository for the local traditions and proof of the infinite possibilities that can spring from creative thought applied to the products of the land. Her story shows that even in the poorest rural areas it is possible to seek quality and grow.

Three stories of Southern women. Three reasons to be optimistic, despite everything.

Elena Fucci, Barile. Vulture.
Ristorante Sud, Quarto, Napoli.
Agriturismo Corbella Cicerale, Cilento.