Cooking, leading a brigade, communicating: the chef of Piazza Duomo (three-star Michelin’s) explains how the relationship with Marchesi has influenced and changed him
We always leave something that reminds of our passage in this world. Memories, people, teachings. These things remain, are collected and become a treasure. We are never completely forgotten. Never. Because we influenced the lives of the people who knew us. Even if our names will be forgotten, the footprints we left on the path of life will become the way to help others to walk.
This is what the Master Gualtiero Marchesi has left to his pupil Enrico Crippa, three-star Michelin’s and chef of the Piazza Duomo restaurant in Alba. A light shines with passion inside him. A fire fuelled by the lessons and memories of his Master: “I keep all his culinary teaching, the rigor and harmony of managing a brigade, the transition from Italian cuisine to gastronomic cuisine. As well as non-culinary teaching. I joined Marchesi as a kid and over time I grew up as a man“. He smiles recalling their first meeting. At the time, he met his teacher thanks to Angelo Colzani, one of the teachers of his hotel school: “It was a great emotion to meet him, because my professor often talked about him and made us prepare some of his dishes during the lessons”. Something changed from then on, almost like a vocation. He wanted to follow that person who had given so much to the culinary world. Slowly he learned to know not only the chef, but also the man. “I remember him as an extremely cultured person. We could talk about everything, ranging from the most different topics: cooking, music, art, history. A great Master (Sensei) for sure”. Not just a teacher, but also a friend. A rare relationship between a student and his teacher, but this makes it even more beautiful. Crippa continues to tell us about Marchesi and in doing so, he focuses on phrases that became meaningful to him: “Mister Marchesi, maybe you didn’t understand”. “No, dear Enrico, maybe you weren’t clear enough”. A teaching on communication. A turning point that shaped him. A few words that have accompanied him throughout his life and that remind him of a great teacher who will remain forever inside his soul.
