The title of best traditional panettone of the year has gone to the South, but it is not the first time in recent years, decreed by the jury of "Panettone without borders", the traveling event which for five years now has been proposing make known the many variations of the most representative large leavened product of our country, through the interpretations of Master Pastry Chefs from all over Italy, involving the most illustrious names of the national pastry scene,
The jury, chaired by Iginio Massari the recognized Master of Italian pastry chefs and by Debora Massari, AMPI Master, Achille Zoia "Father" of the modern panettone, Angelo Musolino Conpait President, Piergiorgio Giorilli, award-winning yeastist, Maurizio Colenghi Master AMPI awarded the prize of victory to Vincenzo Faiella, pastry chef of San Marzano sul Sarno, in the province of Salerno, which despite its young age has already obtained numerous and important awards including the "Best panettone in the world" 2019 and 2020 awards from FIPGC and the "Parma city of gastronomy".
A career that of Faiella (from Salerno like the late Alfonso Pepe, first champion of leavened products in southern Italy, to whom First&Food has dedicated a profile that can be consulted in the "Stories of Chefs" section, of which the young Faiella was a pupil) began at 12 years alongside his pastry chef father and then consolidated at the school of the master yeast maker Toty Catanese, of the great masters of pastry Rolando Morandin, of Achille Zoia and Eliseo Tonti, which brought him to the national limelight of the great Italian pastry.
The competition also included a so-to-speak difficult section as it was necessary to combine two components of unusual integration in the dough: candied oranges and coffee.
In the arduous undertaking, the panettone made by Massimo Ferrante of the Ferrante pastry shop in Campomorrone (Genoa) was the winner.
Ferrante, who also trained at Morandin's school, has already won numerous awards, including first place in the "Re Panettone 2017 Competition in the Innovative Leavened Products category with "Albimokka", the variant of the traditional panettone, with candied apricots, liqueur coffee infusion and white chocolate.
Instead, the birth of "IL PANMORONE" dates back to 1995.
For the record, the runner-up for the Traditional Panettone was Roberto Cantolacqua of the Mimosa pastry shop in Civitanova Marche. Third D&G Patisserie of Selvazzano Dentro PD. In the other section, Panettoni with difficult pairings, the second place went to Pasticceria Delizia Lo Faso, from Bolognetta PA, the third podium went to the Grué pastry shop from Rome.
The Masters selected for this edition were: Roberto Cantolacqua Ripani, Mimosa pastry shop, from Tolentino and Civitanova Marche Angelo Di Masso, Pan dell'Orso pastry shop from Scanno, Pino and Mauro Lo Faso, Delizia pastry shop from Bolognetta, Nico Iacovera, Nonna Sesella's Antica Ricetta from Matera, Felice Venanzi and Marta Boccanera, Grué pastry shop, from Rome, Alfonso Schiavone, De Vivo pastry shop, from Pompeii, Valentino and Damiano Rizzo, San Francesco pastry shop, from Spezzano Della Sila, Massimo Ferrante, Ferrante pastry shop, from Campomorone, Vincenzo Faiella , of San Marzano sul Sarno, Denis Dianin, D&G patisserie of Selvazzano Dentro, Elvio Donatone, Arte del Dolce pastry shop, of Velletri, Giorgio Gaetano, Forno Regina dal 1962, of Pagani.
The first thing that catches the eye is that among all the panettone selected there is none from Milan, where this cake was also invented at the time of Ludovico il Moro, nor from Lombardy, and that the South is much more represented in the North.
Iginio Massari, president of the jury declared: “The task of the table I presided over was difficult, given the general level of the products tasted which, among other things, did not show any particular problems despite having been subjected to non-optimal transport. Few points separate the competitors, as a sign of a balance dedicated to quality. Panettone without Borders, once again this year, has brought new pastry chefs to the national stage”.
“At this edition – added Piergiorgio Giorili, from the table that judged the Panettoni Selezione – only the public was missing, the setting for a prestigious location and a proposal for leavened products of great interest. Difficult to manage ingredients of this nature while finding an ideal balance, this made the difference in our assessments”.
"Panettone without borders" now in its fifth edition was held this year in the prestigious space of the Montichiari Theater (BS), completed in 1890, for whose interiors wooden material was used from the demolition of the Arnoldi Theater in Mantua, which the Count Gaetano Bonoris bought and donated, in 1887, to the Society of Palchettisti.
Due to covid, the demonstration took place in the absence of an audience.
In reality, the competition that was born in Naples in Palazzo Caracciolo and then was held in Reggio Calabria (at the headquarters of the Metropolitan City), Brescia (at Villa Fenaroli) and Palermo (at Palazzo S. Elia), should have been held, faithful to its itinerant principle, in Barletta, in the suggestive Castello Svevo but the appointment was postponed due to the restrictions imposed by the emergency measures for the Coronavirus.
