Italy’s Northwestern Lights: The New Innovative Chefs in Liguria and Valle d’Aosta

This article appeared in the February 2021 issue of the Italian edition of La Cucina Italiana.

Fortunately for Liguria and Valle d’Aosta, the wind is changing, giving the regions’ food culture the attention it deserves. The leaders of the change, a generation of young chefs who, after having traveled far and wide, returned home to give shape to a dream: to convey the goodness of dishes that shines a light on their landscapes. Here's a look at some of the most talented in Liguria, the region south of Piedmont that shares a coastline with France, and Valle d’Aosta, the region north of Piedmont bordering Switzerland and France.

From the Rivieria ...

Proceeding from Ponente, the Riviera stretch between France and Genoa, to the Levante, the part reaching from Geona to Tuscany, the first stop is in Ventimiglia — more precisely, in the hamlet of Trucco. There, just beside the French border, Antonio Buono and Valentina Florio opened Casa Buono a year ago, and it lives up to its name. Their resumes include long-time stints at Mirazur, the current best restaurant in the world according to the prestigious World's 50 Best, which is located just across the French border in Menton. 

At Caso Buono, the chefs forego fine dining for splendid cuisine crafted around the local markets’ magnificent products. "I can't wait to be able to put my hand on the February cabbages and cauliflower, not to mention beets and turnips," the Neapolitan chef lights up. Finding a signature dish in the whirlwind menu is difficult, but I clearly remember the Eliconi pasta with Provencal scents, a delightful fusion between Ligurian pesto and bouillabaisse from just across the border.

In the province of Genoa, Enrico Vinelli, an entrepreneur with an unbridled passion for good food, opened Hostaria Ducale, an ambitious project helmed by Davide Cannavino. The chef honed his talent at Baldin, an exceptional restaurant in Geona, and Voglia Matta, a Michelin-starred restaurant in the seaside town of Voltri, two outstanding places whose cuisine exceeds the confines of just simply reproducing Ligurian tradition. The vegetable garden and sea coexist splendidly in Ciupin, a soup made with local fish, all cooked separately and combined with tomato that’s been extracted and flavored with cardamom – you can’t see the tomato, but you taste it. Cannavino studies and perfects haute cuisine classics from Italy and beyond. His risotto homage to Nino Bergese, a beloved 20th-century Genovese chef, is creamed with sour butter and brown sauce base, and the lepre à la royale — hare à la royale, a French classic — is glorious (and laborious).

In July 2020, golden couple Lucia De Prai and Marco Primiceri opened Duo in ​​Chiavari, a town in the Riveria Levante. He’s a Roman pastry chef, and she’s a super-smart Turinese chef who worked for Quique Dacosta at his three-star Michelin-rated restaurant in Alicante, Spain. They devote tremendous attention to eco-sustainability "because we restaurateurs finally have the opportunity to promote important values," they explain in unison. The menu highlights little-known blue fish and meat from free-range animals. Above all, the Bread and Chocolate anti-waste dessert tastes like ascending to heaven.

Impronta d’Acqua, a one-star Michelin-rated restaurant from Ivan Maniago and Romina Di Fabio, stands just past the port of Lavagna, another Rivieria Levante town. People frequent this magnificent Friulian professional’s locale for simple fish preparations, regal meats, and thoughtfully scrutinized vegetables. You can choose from the Goloso menu — a perfect suckling pig or eel risotto — the Vegetariano or the Pensieri, which is more freehand. If going for the latter, pray that the cook’s instinct brings together wonderful toasted prawns and chicken gizzards in a casserole with whipped prawn bisque.

... To Mont Blanc

The Alpine peaks are rife with young chefs, and there’s no doubt that Paolo Griffa, who’s been at the helm of the Petit Royal restaurant at the Grand Royal hotel in Courmayeur since 2017, is one of the finest. There, Griffa recalls the splendor Cavallo Bianco, late chef Paolo Vai’s restaurant – the only in the region to have ever earned two Michelin stars. He had the kitchen and dining room torn down to accommodate nine tables, which now, due to Covid-19, have become seven. The lucky few who manage to book one get to experience a menu that combines the territory with creativity, aesthetics, and substance like few others. He has crafted three tasting menus for 2021, one of which is titled I Love Aosta and projects the regional cuisine into the future. The dishes include messata, delicious salted venison meat prepared as a carpaccio over herbs grown in hydroponics behind the hotel, and favò, the only type of pasta associated with the region. These farro ditalini are cooked in salami broth and then creamed with fontina d'alpeggio — a fairy tale. Those wishing to go further, choose the Arte menu, with sunflower-shaped char ravioli dedicated to Van Gogh, or the Jolly, which is carte blanche.

In the city of Aosta, instead, Filippo Oggioni from Legnano, a town in the province of Milan, earned a Michelin star at Vecchio Ristoro. His menu displays quotes from the great colleagues who preceded him, from French chefs like Georges Escoffier and Fernand Point to Italian legends such as Paolo Vai and Gualtiero Marchesi, the first chef in Italy to earn three Michelin stars. Meat-centric, especially when it comes to feathered game, Oggioni’s preparations convince even the most skeptical that roe and deer, mallards, and heifers are a pleasure. His outstanding duck in three sets comprises breast with foie gras, ravioli with thigh stuffing, and a Pernod thigh salad — philological, substantial cuisine.

Finally, the cuisine of Valle d’Aosta fuses with Eastern influences thanks to Milan-native Luca Gubelli, the executive chef at the Campzero resort in Champoluc. At Summit, the property’s fine dining restaurant, he serves Alpine Ramen prepared with a beetroot Dashi and tagliolini mixed with a reduction of Cornalin, a native grape. Venison loin is wrapped in nori seaweed and complete with smoked soy, a pinch of cocoa, and celeriac puree. Distant worlds collide at high altitudes.

Cover photo: Lucia De Prai and Marco Primiceri, chefs and co-owners of the restaurant Duo in Chiavari, photo credit: Duo Restaurant