In full sail the Ischia Food&Wine Safari debut, the event that, on September 15, landed on the green island the crème de la crème of Campanian cuisine to make the area and its wine and food excellences known.
And it was, in effect, a big game of delights, which were tasted on the sea that flows through Lacco Ameno little bay, the beach that some time ago saw many celebrities from the glamorous world of cinema and television walking on its sand.
Big names and photographed as VIPs, arrived not from Hollywood’s red carpets, but from their big and small shops, scattered here and there in our region, were the stars of the evening, which was organized in the luxurious Regina Isabella Resort gourmet restaurant, the chefs Nino Di Costanzo, Pasquale Palamaro, Salvatore Bianco e Paolo Barrale, the pizzaioli Enzo Coccia, Eduardo Ore, Ivano Veccia, Enzo e Cristiano Piccirillo, the pastry chefs Antonio Maresca e Alfonso Pepe.
So, all the people who sat at Indaco’s tables, while fascinated by the color that started the Ischia-style dinner at sunset, went through – its name from Swahili announced it – a long journey to discover the Island gastronomic tradition between old flavors and new ideas, all made with only the best ingredients that the land offers and matched with an interesting selection of wines.
As one of those tours to do at least once in a lifetime, the “expedition” arranged by Giancarlo Carriero, owner of the grand hotel named after King Francis I of the Two Sicilies wife, got the safarists into a film atmosphere, the same that, a few months ago, bewitched the celebrities at the Global Film & Music Fest. Moreover, in a structure founded by a filmmaker who would expect otherwise?
As magic was the air that the wood-burning oven, with its bright tongues and its unmistakable smell, created, marking the hearts of those who were there.
We always talk a lot about the pizza made by the pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy. The maestro Enzo Coccia, on the other hand, wanted to commemorate the Spanish queen creating a pizza topped with fior di latte, cherry tomatoes, anchovies, basil, extra virgin olive oil and oregano, all from this piece of land situated in the Gulf of Naples.
And now we have to get back to work for the next year’s event, going on traveling in full sail.
