Enrico Chicco Cerea: The luxury of authenticity

There is a disarming simplicity that does not need superstructures to exist. In an era of artificial narratives, the authenticity of this place is an act of resistance. Da Vittorio is not a set for those looking for superficial confirmations; it is proof that real value is built with sweat and consistency. It is that rare ability to make you feel deeply at home in the elite of world gastronomy, reminding us that true excellence is never cold or distant: it is human. We deepened this vision with one of its pillars: Enrico “Chicco” Cerea.

Yours is a textbook case: a family governance that moves with the precision of a multinational. In a sector often dominated by the individual ego, you have focused on the strength of the team. What is the secret to maintaining this solid balance between a global entrepreneurial vision and the daily management of a group of talents?

We had the great privilege of growing up with the example of our parents, our first, true mentors in the kitchen: the passion, the abnegation, and the commitment they showed us day after day, provided those values that are at the foundation of the vision of Da Vittorio. Even after the death of father Vittorio, our mother Bruna remained an irreplaceable lighthouse, the glue capable of always finding the right balance between the creative drives of all the components of the family. There is certainly no shortage of different points of view, but we always interpret them as a moment of personal growth and a professional boost. But the true secret is only one: we trust each other and we have the luck of always pursuing a single objective: to make those who sit at our table feel good.

SUBSTANCE BEYOND APPEARANCE

There are those who have understood that reality has a specific weight that no narrative built at a table can ever return. In an uncertain and complex international scenario, the vision of the Cerea family acts as a return to basics. It is not about communication strategies, but about the concreteness of those who, in the moment of need, know how to put aside awards to light the fires where there is a real necessity. It is the dedication of those who have known how to transform excellence into civil support, demonstrating that the value of a company is measured by the impact it has on its territory.

In 2020, in the most critical moment for Bergamo, you put your competence at the service of the community in field hospitals. That experience of 'pure cooking', far from the lights of the critics, changed your perception of the value of food? How much of that human and civil awareness is found today in your most exclusive menus?

Our bond with Bergamo has always been very strong: when we opened in 1966 and we bet on fish cuisine in a city devoted to meat, ours could have seemed like a gamble, but the response of the community was strong and warm, a relationship that has consolidated in all these 60 years. It was therefore natural to bring our help to the citizens during the hardest phases of Covid: it was a way to witness the closeness and support of the Cerea family to those who have always supported us. Our relationship with food and its value has always been one of the cornerstones of our cuisine: doing justice to the raw material, avoiding food waste. We did the same in 2020, making available to the most needy families of Bergamo the surpluses that arrived thanks to the spontaneous support of many of our partners and suppliers.

TRUE MASTERS VS CARDBOARD DEITIES

We are daily overwhelmed by "phenomena" that chase plastic rankings working only to collect mentions. They pose as untouchable deities, forgetting that true authority cannot be bought. Then there are the true masters: those who have reached absolute technical perfection but who still know how to speak with a spontaneity that displaces. It is the triumph of competence over staging, of those who know how to welcome with a sincere smile because they have shoulders wide enough not to need a pedestal to feel great.

Being steadily among the top ten restaurants in the world for 'La Liste' means having reached absolute technical perfection. And yet, with you, luxury is never distant or formal, but welcoming. How do you manage to codify a welcome that makes the guest feel like the protagonist, eliminating that barrier of awe that often characterizes fine dining?

What always fascinated us, when as kids we saw mamma and papà working in the kitchen and in the dining room 'behind the scenes', was the spontaneity and freshness with which they managed to interact with any guest. They never had reverential fear or awe of those who sat at the table and this is a secret that we have absorbed too. Whoever crosses the threshold of Da Vittorio, whether they come for a single celebration or are a regular, deserves the same treatment: to feel welcomed with warmth, pampered but not revered, treated as if they were at home. In front of a good dish, there are no distinctions of gender or social class, only the pleasure of being together.

THE PACCHERO: A MANIFESTO OF FREEDOM

The Pacchero di Vittorio is an icon that transcends fashions because it sinks its roots in collective memory. It is a manifesto of freedom: the audacity to bring the essence of domestic cooking into the temple of three stars. It represents a silent challenge to anyone who believes that excellence must necessarily be complex or inaccessible to be considered as such. This dish remains a fixed point, the proof that perfection does not reside in artifice, but in the ability to touch deep emotional chords through a simplicity that is, in reality, the arrival point of a masterly technique.

The famous Paccheri have become a manifesto of freedom: bringing the essence of domestic tradition into the temple of three stars. There are those who consider it a courageous choice and those, provocatively, a simplification. In your opinion, is it more complex to innovate with avant-garde techniques or to achieve absolute perfection with a dish that everyone believes they know?

We believe it is a mix of both things: it is always very challenging to find a new solution to give life, body, and identity to a dish, but perhaps it is even more difficult to manage to give the right interpretation and reading of the classics of tradition. Every family has its version of a recipe, its baggage of associated emotions, and managing to find the balance that satisfies all palates is an intense but exciting undertaking. When we see the smile on the face of the guests, when they tell us that a dish reminded them of what their mother or grandmother made, well, in that moment we know we have done the job to perfection. Suggesting memories of the past and associating them with happy moments with a dish is the greatest satisfaction.

EXPORTING CIVILIZATION

When Vittorio expands into international markets, it does not do so to follow a passing trend. It exports a solid and proud model of gastronomic civilization. The challenge is not to seduce with flattering contaminations, but to establish an intelligent dialogue between different cultures starting from a rock-solid identity. It is the demonstration that authenticity is a universal language that needs no translation: efficiency meets warmth, bringing to the world that concept of welcome that is, first of all, a fully Italian cultural value.

Looking at your expansion in culturally distant markets like Shanghai, a strategic dilemma arises: is the gastronomic identity of 'Da Vittorio' an absolute canon or a fluid concept? In a globalized world, is your challenge to 'educate' new palates to the authenticity of your taste or do you believe that nuances exist where contamination becomes necessary to be truly understood?

The gastronomic identity of Da Vittorio is solid but knows how to adapt to the context. With our restaurant, we bring to other countries a concept of conviviality and pleasure that is a trademark of the Italian gastronomic tradition as such. Then, in our specific case, we have managed to build a model of cuisine and welcome that is replicable in its efficiency and in its methods of execution, but that knows how to dialogue in an intelligent way with the identity and the socio-cultural context of the country in which we find ourselves. Contamination is always precious in the world of gastronomy, because it provides us with suggestions, scents, ingredients that can be of inspiration for our next recipes. The relationship between restaurant and country leads to a mutual exchange of trust: as much as we are open to the encounter with a new culture of cooking, so are the guests who enter one of our restaurants abroad.

THE VICTORY OF THE BACKBONE

While the world chases the perfect shortcut, convinced that image can replace apprenticeship, realities like Da Vittorio remain there to remind us that talent without discipline is only background noise. Feeling at home in a world temple is not a coincidence, it is the result of a precise equation: constant commitment plus obsessive education. Substance always wins. Because in the end, only those who have known how to build something real remain. And those who, like the Cereas, have understood that elegance is not getting noticed, but being remembered for who you are.