Valzelli, the youngest Michelin star in Europe

Take one Michelin star at just 23 years oldi, becoming the youngest chef to have reached this milestone in the history of European food and wine, is the stuff to shake your wrists. But it must be said that Augusto Valzelli, a twenty-seven year old from Brescia, had built that result from a young age at the table, with stubbornness and sacrifice. At just 12 he had decided that his future would be behind the stove. At the neighborhood oratory where she spent her free time, in middle school, a 70-year-old lady proposed to the boys who were interested in taking part in a cooking class. Oh my God, nothing demanding, we made biscuits, wraps, those things that kids like. Andrea managed to prepare by himself, with the watchful eye of the teacher, a pizza of puff pastry, with tomato and mozzarella. He tasted it, liked it very much, and was proud of it. “A world opened up to me…”. The result was that the following year he made his triumphal entrance to the Istituto Alberghiero “A. Mantegna ”, from which numerous promises have emerged in the kitchen, where he studied theory and practice for five years until he obtained his chef diploma in 2009.

At this point he could have chosen various employment possibilities, even comfortable ones, but Valzelli had no hesitation and presented himself full of enthusiasm to “The Trattoria L'Artigliere”  where Davide Botta, member of Jeunes Restaurateurs d'Europe and Michelin star in 1993, worked and works and began to work hard by introducing himself to the secrets and commitment of haute cuisine. Commitment which was followed by excellent results because in short Valzelli he conquered the position of Chef's right-hand man.

In the meantime, however, a secret passion was maturing in the young man, he who was born in Brescia in the shadow of Monte Guglielmo and Monte Colombine, in the homeland of the Casoncellis, for bigoli with pestom, beef in oil, spit with taragna polenta, he increasingly felt the call of the sea, as a new horizon for cooking. Said and done, he moved to Imperia and joined Andrea Sarri, patron of the "Bittersweet Restaurant", president of JRE and, not surprisingly, for the reasons that led him to Liguria, owner of a Michelin star. Sarri's cuisine is open to gustatory exploration and unusual but always balanced combinations, which release incredible varieties of flavors and emotions, fascinate him and root him in his convictions. Once again, he soon shined to the point that after only a year, when Sarri left the restaurant, Augusto Vanzelli took over from him, and  inaugurates, as Chef, the "new management" of the "Bittersweet Restaurant" in Imperia which materializes, in the kitchen, with an extraordinary "Primps and Kiwis" his first course as a Chef who will then follow him with pride over time.

It's not just a change of direction. Valzelli is now mature – albeit very young – to revolutionize the place, he surrounds himself with a brigade of motivated and passionate young people, he changes the menu and launches a new one within everyone's reach, he studies to lower the prices while keeping the quality high with flair and imagination . And at the end of two years, the twenty-three-year-old reaches the goal he had always set for himself, the Michelin star which puts him in a position to dialogue with the big names in catering, because he too is in that starry gastronomic sky.

Many hotels and restaurants start calling him with interesting offers, but Valzelli decides to follow his instinct, which is to put himself to the test again.

Now he can think of returning to Brescia and opening a restaurant of his own, bringing with him the experiences gained in Imperia and inspired by the cuisine of Antonino Cannavacciuolo and Gennarino Esposito, his culinary myths, priests of a cuisine of simple, natural flavours, of the memory of the territory , which like a watermark reveals all its components.

In Brescia he took over a place once occupied by the Scarlatto restaurant, closed for several years, a bit outside the center in Campo di Marte, at the foot of the Brescia Castle. And here in an old prestigious Liberty building from 1926 in April last year “La Porta antica” opens its doors twenty-five seats, well-kept and intimate atmosphere.

The menu is mostly based on the sea and even the furnishings recall the sea, the bar counter in Sardinian breccia that recalls a quiet beach, the streaks of the slate floor that resemble the movement of the waves of the sea, the warm colors walls, the solid oak tables that recall a natural world. The setting is elegant, the mise en place between silver and crystal, you sit on comfortable armchairs illuminated by suspended lights in the shape of glass jellyfish... in short, you eat in the shadow of the castle but you feel at the seaside.

And from the sea, tempting proposals arrive on the menu, “Grilled baby squid on liquid corn polenta and popcorn”, “Gragnano spaghetti in a stew of red mullet, datterino tomatoes and Taggiasca olives”, “Fusillone of durum wheat in seafood carbonara and mullet bottarga”, “Tepid fish and shellfish on a bed of fresh produce from the garden and orange vinaigrette”, “Catch of the day, trumpet courgettes, pea sauce and Garda lemon chutney”. Here and there also appear concessions to the land such as "Beef tartare, grilled spring onion, Cantabrian anchovies and Dijon mustard" . There are few concessions to traditional Brescian cuisine – except for a Carnaroli risotto – Valzelli has a desire for new horizons. Now Valzelli's primary objective is to captivate an audience quite tied to traditions and to accompany them in daring but not shocking culinary voyages and to discover new frontiers of taste.

At 27, just turned Augusto Valzelli is not resting on his laurels. If his favorite dish of his is a caprese, when he is free from the occupations of La Porta Antica, however, he rarely dines at home. Both he and his wife go around getting to know restaurants and kitchens, looking for ideas, new inspirations, new suggestions to elaborate mentally rather than technically. In short, the kitchen for him is a 24-hour occupation. He is in a hurry to go up, higher and higher, for capture a star to put on the ancient gate. And you can bet that it won't stop.