There are almost 500.000 legal residents in Italy, such as the population of Genoa and its province. Historically, our country has represented a safe haven for those who, in the fifteenth century, had to abandon their lands due to the advance of the Turkish-Ottomans. Then in the early 90s the great dramatic wave of migration caused by the desperate living conditions after the collapse of the communist curtain. The Albanian community in Italy is a deeply rooted ethnic reality, perfectly integrated into the Italian population which has been able to express itself successfully in numerous fields, artistic, sporting, cultural, economic.
Without going too far back in time, the first names that come to mind are those of Anna Oxa, who needs no comments; by Kledi Kadiu, the young dancer who arrived in Italy aboard the ship Vlora together with 20 people who had found refuge there, launched by Maria De Filippi's talent show, now requested by theaters all over the world; by Clirim Muça poet, writer, playwright who in 1992 arrived in Italy via Greece and the former Yugoslavia, on foot, by bus and by train, having gone underground for five years but today he is a hotel entrepreneur in Castiglioncello, and also the owner of a publishing house, Albalibri, which publishes Italian and European authors for free; by Elhaida Dani winner of the first edition of The Voice in the team of Riccardo Cocciante, who successfully interpreted the role of the protagonist Esmeralda in the French and Italian edition of the musical Notre dame de Paris.
And again by Inva Mula soprano considered among the ten best sopranos in the world at home at the Teatro La Scala; by Saimir Pirgu, young Albanian naturalized Italian tenor acclaimed as a real revelation in all the most important theaters and festivals in the world, winner of the Pavarotti prize; by Igli Tare former striker since 2009 sporting director of Lazio; by Ermal Meta winner of the Mia Martini critics prize at the Sanremo Festival or by Gentian Selimi, the Bocconian hired by Caboto who left everything to set up a high-level supplement company in Gubbio which today has offices all over the world.
One could go on for a long time talking about successful Albanians who have made it in Italy, among these it should be mentioned Rigels Tepshi, 30, accomplished talented chef which we will hear more and more about in the future. Very young, he looks less than his age, for two years Tepshi has taken office in the kitchens of the "Ottocentodieci restaurant" inside the Hotel Eridano, in Sannazzaro de' Burgondi, a village of five thousand souls in lower Lomellina, on the edge of the alluvial valley of the Po, whose economy is linked to the large refinery that ENI, the beating heart of Italian oil refining wanted by Enrico Mattei.
Odd name for a restaurant but behind the numbers there is actually a precise gastronomic concept: there are eight hundred and ten the kilometers that connect Sannazzaro to Naples, are the kilometers covered by Annalisa Magri, a very young and determined entrepreneur, who left the Neapolitan coast to settle in the Lomellina village where, with great enthusiasm and initiative, she started her hotel and restaurant business.
An act of love for his Campania and a pledge of loyalty for his adopted land, with a common thread that combines the two geographical realities: loyalty to the excellence of its territory, to its genuine gastronomic traditions, to the sense of hospitality and warmth typical of the Neapolitan coast, and the commitment to discover and enhance the Pavia gastronomic panorama "which still has a lot to say, which has great unexpressed potential”, vigorously developing the project to unite these two distant cultures in unique recipes.
An ambitious project that thrilled Rigels Tepshi who found himself at ease, a challenge that he accepted with the desire to question himself and which ultimately retraces his personal experience, the memory of Albania where he was born and the perfect integration with Italy, not only a land of adoption, but "his land": he arrived there at the age of six months, in the Alessandria area where his parents took up residence. “My culture – he says – has left me something that I jealously guard: Rigels, in fact, is a star in the constellation of Orion. A star that bears my name! I've always interpreted it as a good omen, a wish for what's to come. And she never cheated on me ”.
Son of a truck driver and a health worker, Tepshi playing as a child with toy soldiers, his favorite pastime, feels the fascination of uniforms so strongly that he dreams of joining "the forces of order to serve the country" when he grows up. The change of plans of his dreams occurs when his mother is assigned to the kitchens of the health company, and she becomes a cook. The kitchen thus indirectly enters his life. Having become a little older and having abandoned his toy soldiers, the young Rigels, on the advice of his mother, enrolled at the Artusi Hotel Institute in Casale Monferrato near Alessandria and at the same time found work in a pizzeria.
“My first experience was in a pizzeria to start my path of independence. Sometimes I think chand I wish I had more fun given my young age but today I can say that I am happy with the choices I have made”. He lends a hand, waits at the tables, prepares the condiments, until one day they exceptionally ask him to rush some pasta for some patrons. Intuitive, impulsive ("which, however, I manage to control by keeping my nerve"), rigorous, determined in achieving the goals he sets for himself, Rigels doesn't need to repeat himself twice, he abandons the pizzas, goes to the kitchen and prepares the dish. He receives compliments from everyone, his pride is through the roof: he is the protagonist, and not one of the many pizza makers, and this makes him turn on a light bulb ("I understood the satisfaction that this job could give me. From there the real start to my career ").
From that day on, Rigels began to experiment, taking inspiration wherever he could. But he objectively realizes that the road is not that easy if concrete results are to be achieved he is not a person to be satisfied with little (“Unfortunately, reality did not meet expectations. I understood that in order to give my best, I still lacked experience, which I consider fundamental”).
With that temper that he finds, he throws himself headlong into this world that attracts and fascinates him assisted by his good constellation Orion. Because the very young Tepshi starts his march in forced stages passing through some structures in the Alessandria area including Villa Sparina, on the Gavi hills, where there was a very young Massimo Mentasti (who in a few years would have won the Michelin Star), Villa Pomela in Novi Ligure, where he covered the role of sous chef for 3 years. Then in 2014 the great leap that takes him to the top: he begins the experience at Trussardi alla Scala (at the time 1 Michelin star), the spearhead of the Milanese restaurant scene, where under the guidance of Luigi Taglienti he becomes chef de partie.
When Taglienti gives his fire to Roberto Conti, trained alongside internationally renowned chefs such as Maurizio Bosotti, Pietro Leemann del Joia, Andrea Berton, Rigels quickly climbs the ladder and becomes sous chef. He forged all the stops, he is even called for important consultancies, such as the one at Sikelia in Pantelleria, a 5* luxury resort which is a point of reference for high-level Sicilian tourism, for which he oversaw the opening. But ours isn't satisfied yet, he wants to climb even higher and he succeeds.
In 2018 he began an experience at the Seta restaurant – 2 Michelin Stars – inside the 5* Mandarin Oriental hotel, where Antonio Guida is executive chef. An experience that gives Rigels full awareness of his abilities. The thing reaches Annalisa Magri's ears: that boy who reached so high and in such a short time, who cooked for Trussardi and Berlusconi, for Philipp Plein, the great fashion designer and celebrities from Manuel Agnelli to De Sica, is the right person to carry out your project in Lomellina. With great courage Tepshi accepts, leaves Milan and moves to Sannazzaro dei Burgondi. He immediately creates a close-knit team of young people supported by sous chef Carlo Sarchi who comes from respectable experiences alongside great starred chefs such as Antonio Cannavacciuolo and Andrea Ribaldone.
“Ottocentodieci” immediately makes noise, Tepshi has clear and firm ideas about what his kitchen will look like, draws the philosophy of the restaurant by interpreting the scents and flavors of the Mediterranean through new and original combinations to pair with the best products of Lomellina and the garden. The result is a contemporary signature cuisine that combines territory and harmony of ingredients, aesthetic beauty, naturalness and naturalness of flavors, innovation and creativity in absolute respect of seasonality.
“My cooking isn't extreme, says the chef – but certainly the goal I've always set for myself is to make a kitchen that is decipherable by everyone, a kitchen conceived as a meeting place that must not create awe in the customer. People must approach my dishes and immediately perceive what is inside, they must feel at ease, they must not be surprised by abstruse solutions that put them in difficulty and above all they must keep a pleasant memory that makes them feel at ease and so give him the pleasure of coming back.”
And that goes for hisScampi in the Catalan version”. A concept dish, obtained by working on different thoughts, the full use of the ingredients and the different textures present; as for his "Bertagnina pumpkin ravioli with Mortara goose salami broth and Timut pepper" a dish that 100% represents the Lomellina "area that hosts us and that we try to make the most of", as well as for the “Riso Carnaroli Riserva San Massimo, red onions from Breme, lemon, agretti, bread powder”, a reassuring dish, as the Chef defines it, or the “Sweetbread with Bertagnina di Dorno pumpkin, chanterelle mushrooms and Calvisius prestige caviar” ( produced by a farm in the Brescia area), dishes that bring the Pavia area and its traditions to the table filtered through Tepshi's imagination and creativity.
Of course, all this does not come by chance. Its organization in the kitchen – mindful of the ancient passion for toy soldiers and military life – it is set up in the French way, according to a precise hierarchy. Which means that rigor is a must, discipline is the law, coordination must be constant: the head chefs cook, serve the preparations and the chef assembles the dish, because Tepshi does not compromise on the final control of the plating . However, for Rigels it is also important that his brigade feels motivated around a project that is and must be shared, and he is always ready to give advice.
Looking back at his rapid career, Tepshi remarks today: “It would certainly have been easier to go to a well-known restaurant in a big city and become somebody. But when they offered me this possibility, a stone's throw from Alessandria, where I lived and grew up, then I thought I would have more incentive to do everything myself, starting from the Italian provinces. I believe there is nothing more important than presenting a dish that people can relate to. In other words, starting from typical and well-known recipes and ingredients to then give my personal touch to everything and make the experience unique”.
Two years later, the challenge of "Ottocentodieci" has been amply won. And if you then consider that the mythical chef of this boy, with his courteous and affable manners, is none other than Marco Pierre White, irreverent enfant terrible of English cuisine, all genius and recklessness, unconventionality and murky passions, the youngest British three-starred in history, the master of Gordon Ramsay, then one can also guess what future the young Tepshi is heading towards, guided by his constellation of Orion.
