Sixty years after its creation, the Leopard, a grandiose fresco of an Italy suspended between the past and the future signed by Luchino Visconti, from the novel by Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi di Lampedusa, keeps its charm unchanged. Between the psychological study of its protagonists, the extraordinary painstaking settings of a Sicily that was, the sensual atmospheres of the young lovers Angelica and Tancredi played by Claudia Cardinale-Alain Delon, behind which one can clearly see how the relationships between nobility and emerging bourgeoisie, a prominent place in the film is reserved for the kitchen which becomes an element of interpretation of the atmospheres recorded in the various phases of the film. The Timballo for which Visconti is inspired by a Sicilian recipe from 1860 is very famous and has been imitated several times and detailed descriptions of the various moments, such as for the dinner at Villa Salina described in these terms by Tomasi di Lampedusa: “served with the dappled splendor that was then the style of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the number of guests, 14 was ago between landlords, sons, rulers and tutors, was enough by itself to give grandeur to the table covered with a very fine patched tablecloth. It shone under the light of a powerful cart hanging precariously under the nymph under the Murano chandelier, the silverware was massive and the glasses splendid bearing on the smooth medallion, among the Bohemian ashlars, the numbers FD: Ferdinando Dedit in memory of a munificence royal".
The legendary timbale for which Visconti was inspired by a Sicilian recipe from 1860
And later when Father Pirrone played by an amazing Paolo Stoppa, comes out of the conversation with the Prince of Salina, in the novel we read that “while appreciating the delicacies of the Salina house he revives on returning home as the age-old aroma of simmering ragù exhaled from the kitchen with tomato extract, onions and mutton”. How can we forget the description of the dessert preferred by the princes which "looked menacing with its shape of a tower resting on ramparts and escarpments with smooth and slippery sides, impossible to climb, presided over by a red and green garrison of pistachios which was however transparent and trembling and the spoon plunged into it with astonishing ease.
That was a brilliant idea Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Literary Award held in the evocative setting of the Leopard Museum building in Santa Margherita di Belice, an austere eighteenth-century building, to invite dSeveral chefs Masters of taste, to lend their professionalism in honor of the Leopard, reinterpreting traditional dishes described in the novel, such as sea bass in soft sauces, consommé, cinnamon scent, lobster coralline, ham, truffle and meat and pea extract.
Particularly the chef Francesco Bonomo, born in 1979, chef from Marsala in the province of Trapani, lover and supporter of traditional cuisine which he carries forward and promotes elaborated with new preparation and cooking techniques, regional champion of the "Cous Cous World Championship and subsequently winner with the Italian team, of the Popular Jury award for the "Best cous cous at the San Vito lo Capo, has proposed a dish inspired by the famous Leopard dance that pays homage to both the film and Santa Margherita del Belice.
The scene is the astonishing Yellow Salon of Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi, a building built in the first half of the eighteenth century and finished around 1007 by Prince Pietro di Valguarnera dominated by the fresco of "The triumph of faith between the theological and cardinal virtues" painted by Gaspare Serenarius in 1754.
An oval-shaped plate with circular decorations like the harmonious rotational movement of the dance of Angelica and Tancredi
Chef Francesco Bonomo was inspired by the dance of the charming and sensual Angelica with the young Tancredi who "dance whirling in a large and luxurious aristocratic hall, inebriated by the scents of citrus fruits and essences, emanating charm, beauty, love and passion" to evoke in a cous cous that path, the atmosphere of the dance, but also the combination of flavours, aromas and sensations that emanate from that scene that made history. “Rethinking the story, where the author describes a very long and narrow table, lit by 12 candlesticks, I designed my dish in an oval shape with circular decorations like the harmonious rotational movement of the dance of Angelica and Tancredi”. She chose couscous, she explains, as a symbol of togetherness, peace and equality, using many of the raw materials narrated in The Leopard! Bonomo flavored his cous cous with a lobster broth, he placed a pea puree alongside, he embellished it with marinated sea bass petals, with ham oil, with chicken egg roe and with Moscato gelée, enhancing its aroma with an essence of his own creation, a sweet, sensual and inebriating cinnamon. “I tried to evoke the flavors not of a simple dinner, but of a great event in which culture, history, music and gastronomy come together. In all of this, I aimed to create an emotional creation that would bring us back to Donnafugata's Palazzo Salina".
