Inside the Grinzane Cavour Castle, a 13th century marvel, set on a hilltop in the middle of Piedmont with dazzling views all over the wine country, there is a magic place where you can eat dishes like Risotto with burrata, eggplant and caper crumble, Pumpkin gnocchi with sautéed baby calamari and fried eggplant skin or Cod in new oil with milk cream and toasted hazelnuts. The place is the restaurant Il Castello di Grinzane [2], whose magician in chief is the young and talented Chef, Alessandro Boglione. His magic has earned him one Michelin star.
 

“Piedmontese cuisine is rich and full of history, mostly as a result of the varied terrain and climates found throughout the region. In combination with the varied terrains, the presence in past centuries of a population divided into distinct social classes has created a very differentiated cuisine: the poor, commoner’s cuisine and a rich, elaborate, upper class cuisine. A cuisine of the valleys and a cuisine of the mountains. We believe in serving an honest rendition of the local gastronomy. We use only the highest quality products and strive to make every meal at the castle a sumptuous tasting of traditional local ingredients and typical wines.”

Reading the reviews of people who actually have had dinner at the Castle, the menu is a mix of local specialties (veal, hazelnuts, truffles, etc.) and non-traditional dishes alike. All the reviewers particularly enjoyed Buglione’s cuisine.

Chef Buglione was the guest of honor at Eataly [3] where he starred in a cooking demo at La Scuola on The Flavors of Fall. He prepared a few dishes - Cod with potato mousse and Lavazza [4] coffee dust, Tajarin pasta with porcini mushrooms and pork cheek, Duck breast with chestnut puree and orange honey, and saffron custard with Lavazza coffee gelatin and hazelnut praline - that featured ingredients of the fall (porcini mushrooms, chestnuts and honey) and incorporated Lavazza coffee.   

Eataly has indeed teamed up with Lavazza to host a series of classes, in which top Italian chefs, and longtime Lavazza partners, visit La Scuola to teach and celebrate the traditions, secrets and authentic tastes of the food Made in Italy. Each chef has a chance to introduce his/her creative cuisine also featuring Lavazza coffee.

Sara Peirone, Top Gastronomy Manager of Lavazza “Lavazza has been collaborating for many years with the world of gastronomy. Back in 2001 we started cooperating with some of Italy’s greatest talents, in order to promote the best of Italian cuisine.” Among the longtime chefs/partners we find, Moreno Cedroni [5], whose dishes are some of the best examples of contemporary Italian cuisine (he invented Italian “susci”), the Neapolitan chef, Antonio Cannavacciuolo who reinterprets creative Mediterranean food, producing a genial blend of Southern and Northern flavors, and Davide Oldani, one of the most talented young chefs in Italy who studied under Gualtiero Marchesi [6].

Lavazza regularly brings the Top Italian Chefs and long-time partners to La Scuola di Eataly to celebrate the traditions, the secrets and the real taste of the food Made in Italy. The Michelin Awarded Chefs cook, teach and present the final mise en place to the guests of La Scuola. As educators, they blend their skills and knowledge with the right ingredients and actual techniques to convey the quintessential experience of the finest cuisine.

“Lavazza is also in partnership with the Slow Food [7] association, founded by food guru Carlo Petrini,” Sara Peirone continues, “The success of this alliance between two enterprises based in Piedmont rests on their shared ethics and intentions for food.” 

This year Lavazza has brought to La Scuola chef Giovanni Grasso of La Credenza [8] (Turin) back in September and it will bring chef Alfredo Russo of Dolce Stil Novo [9] (Turin) in January to for a demo on The Italian cuisine: tradition and innovation.

La Scuola’s fall calendar includes many other interesting events such as The Art of Risotto with Patrick Lacey, the Executive Chef of La Scuola, where he will share with the public his practiced techniques (to be held on November 22nd); Baked Pasta with Felipe Saint-Martin, Eataly’s resident pasta maker (to be held on November 29th); Say it with a kiss with Perugina’s School of chocolate, where Vivien Rembelli, chef of Perugina [10]’s Scuola del Cioccolato, will teach guests, among other things, to make their own Baci chocolates (to be held on December 9th).