No electricity and no phone line. Very close and intense symbiosis with nature, with its products, its inspirations and its protagonists. This is the new mission of the Venetian chef Denis Lovatel, the "mountain pizza chef": the father of contemporary peel pizza, award-winning with 3 Spicchi from Gambero Rosso and the 30th position in the ranking of the 50 Top Pizzas in Italy (first among the crunchy ones), has decided that this summer he will move, body and soul, to the Belluno Dolomites. To be precise in Malga Domador, a corner of paradise at 2.000 meters above sea level where the new project of a completely natural mountain pizza comes to life and made with a particular type of organic flour, rich in taste and nutritional properties necessary to replenish the energy expended at the end of a hiking activity.
Una completely handmade production, like that of the past, in small quantities and suitable only for the sustenance of the malga and its guests. The light bulb of Lovatel, the 45-year-old son of art, came on during the quarantine for the Covid-19 emergency: "During the long period of lockdown - explains the chef - I realized that there was a small piece missing from my experience. I felt the need to tighten my relationship with the mountains even more, learning from those who produce cheeses and cured meats like in the past. In short, experience nature to the fullest. Hence the decision to identify a malga as a base and as a new source of inspiration”. For Lovatel it is partly a return to the past, he who grew up in those mountains: right there his father opened a pizzeria, for which he collaborated very young, at 14, before embarking on the path of studies and becoming a manager in Milan.
However, the call of nature was too strong. And so Lovatel, in recent weeks, has been venturing into the most coherent of undertakings: making a natural product but for real, in close contact with nature and with few resources. La Malga, located at the foot of Col dell'Orso, in the Monte Grappa area, is self-powered by solar panels which transform the heat into electricity useful for the operation of the water heating system. But this is not even enough for cooking, for which a wood-burning stove with a cast iron top is mainly used. That's why To produce its creations Lovatel is helped by local herdsmen, in the spirit of a full involvement of the territory. Which obviously starts with the raw materials.
In fact, the pizzeria is totally self-sufficient: the seasonal vegetables and greens (including sponcio corn, a typical cultivar of Val Belluna) are taken from a small vegetable garden, while chef Lovatel himself dedicates himself, in his free moments, to grazing the animals and the transformation of their products such as alpine cheeses, cured meats, grappas and distillates. “My goal – says the Venetian pizza maker with an open heart – is experience the mountain in a natural way and bring it to your plate. The malga menu will be dynamic and will be created following the rhythms of nature. Our pizzas will be stuffed with what the mountain offers us, to offer our guests the opportunity to taste the authenticity and genuineness of this magical territory".
The Malga Domador pizzeria has 30 seats inside, but the food can also be eaten outside, taking advantage of the Sustainable Pic Nic formula, which provides hikers with a lunch basket equipped with a blanket and everything needed to enjoy a meal in close contact with nature. What Lovatel himself is doing every day: 3 hours of walking, entirely on foot, to reach the refuge from the place where he is staying.
