Articles by: M. T.

  • Art & Culture

    ITALIAN STARTUPS IN NEW YORK: DESIGN AS ART AND BUSINESS. ART REBUS: Word the Pic!

    Lisa Capezzoli, the creator and architect of a project that will add a little color to our lives, spills the beans: “The project began a couple of years ago. I was mad at a friend, so as a joke I created the first art rebus, ‘Don’t Break My Balls.’ It was just the first of a series,” she tells us.

    “After years in America, I wanted to use my English and learn some American expressions.  So I began choosing a few common sayings. And that’s when the notion of a rebus came tomind, which is well known in Italy but less so in America. When I was a kid I would entertain myself by solving them, and that’s why I wanted to add an educational element to the game, combining the two.”   

    Her skills as a designer allowed her to take an important step forward. “I substitute the words with well-known design objects and for every art rebus I make a riddle so that people can learn the story behind it.”  

    More than just a lark

    A project for a lark began for a lark, but Lisa knew it could be more than just a lark. After leaving the international agency of design where she had been working, Lisa founded her own company, EVOL Design, where ART REBUS took shape. 

    “The idea had already been incubating and it rematerialized. Instead of using photos, I made the first 10 artworks with illustrator Xiaobei,” she says proudly. “I presented the project at Milan Design Week, where I participated in the ‘Fuori Salone’ event.”
     

    Starting up
    In the following months people became curious about it and several industry blogs in Italy mentioned it. And then ART REBUS was invited to participate in the event “WOMENinART/WOMENinNOVATION.”  
     

    At that point, Lisa sought someone willing to invest in the project. Enter her friend G. C., who partnered with her to found ARTREBUS IIc. The startup launched on November 24th with it’s own business plan and an online shop (www.artrebus.com). 
     

    Good luck, guys!
  • Op-Eds

    "United Tastes of Pasta", the Festival of Taste signed Giovanni Rana

    With "Piazza Pasta Party" restaurant "Giovanni Rana pasta factory & Kitchen" and Chelsea Market are transformed into an Italian piazza: a place of conviviality, culture, history, so typical of our country and so unusual for American cities.

    And it is in this square that Giovanni Rana brings together America's most famous star chefs: Executive Chef Giovanni Rana Kevin Garcia, Mark Ladner of Del Posto NYC, Jody Adams Boston Rialto & Trade, Matt Accarrino of SPQR in San Francisco, Michael Scelfo Boston, Alden & Harlow Jenn Louis of Portland, Oregon Lincoln and Sunshine Tavern, Clark Frasier and Mark Gaier of MC Boston Skewer.

     "I love the idea of this festival that gathers around the same table all pasta lovers" says Giovanni Rana (President of Giovanni Rana Company) "I believe always in the goodness and in the universality of fresh pasta. And remember the words of sweetness with my mother when I announced that I would tortellini and ravioli - My son you are crazy - And I'm so happy that for once my mother have been wrong. "  

    Giovanni Rana is the patriarch of the Italian fresh pasta, using his ability to master pasta maker, the quality of its products and its creativity has managed to learn, first in Europe and now in America, the value of our gastronomic tradition and made in Italy.

    It's a success based on the pleasure of the good things that has no geographical boundaries, language and culture.

    "United Tastes of Pasta" celebrates therefore the landing of Giovanni Rana company   in USA and its bright results, obtained in such a short time. Giovanni Rana has revealed the natural ambassador of Italian gastronomy thanks to its dialogue with the United States, driven by the desire to receive and share all the stimuli that the language of the dough can be transmitted.  

    But Giovanni Rana pasta is good... twice! Good in its filling and everything around him: Giovanni Rana Family  fact always designs and manufactures, in a direct, non-profit initiatives related scientific research, prevention, the right to education and the fight against discrimination.

    Hence the birth of the Foundation Family Giovanni Rana NGO that aims to leave a positive and concrete in the daily life of others, especially in response to requests for help from the quieter and weak.

    A path leading Pastificio Rana to engage socially more than twenty years in Italy and recently in America.  

    At UNITED TASTES OF PASTA, Giovanni Rana  renews its collaboration with the US Food Bank, donating 100,000 meals to those in need of NYC. In addition, from 29 October to 31 December, the dishes prepared by guest chefs of the festival will remain in the menu of the restaurant: every dish ordered by customers will be donated, by Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina $ 1 to the Food Bank NYC.  

    But while proud of 300 employees, a factory in Chicago and a restaurant in NYC, the heart of the Giovanni Rana company  is Italian, very Italian.  

    With its 2,500 employees, with their families together in a kind of Giovanni Rana community, held together not just from work but by common values, such as commitment, responsibility, love of Italian cuisine, Giovanni Rana Group year launches initiative very special: 1,000,000 fresh pasta dishes donated to the Banco Alimentare, which will distribute them to the needy. In fact, during the months of December and January, for each box sold of  “Duetto”, one of the most popular and precious product of fresh pasta,  Giovanni Rana company  will donate a packet of filled pasta   to the Food Bank.  

    "I feel strongly in me a great social responsibility, as a business owner. I conceive of the company, my beloved pasta, like a cell, healthy, active, constructive social fabric. The profit is not the ultimate measure of success. "Declares Gian Luca Rana (CEO of Giovanni Rana company)" The true value of a company substantial - and a businessman - is measured by the positive impact that falls on the territory, on society, on people even more remote by the company itself.

    My life as an entrepreneur is this continuous search for opportunities that allow my employees and their families to multiply their talents, realizing how people "
  • Art & Culture

    BELLISSIMA: Italy and High Fashion 1945-1968

    Bellissima: Italy and High Fashion 1945 – 1968, a project by MAXXI: National Museum of the XXI Century Arts in Rome, is curated by Maria Luisa Frisa, critic, fashion curator and professor at IUAV University of Venice, Anna Mattirolo, MAXXI Arte Director and Stefano Tonchi, Editor-in-Chief of W magazine.

    The exhibition at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is presented by Bulgari. Bellissima
    recreates the alluring atmosphere of Italian high fashion during a time when designers such as Emilio Schuberth, Sorelle Fontana, Germana Marucelli, Mila Schön, Valentino, Simonetta, Roberto Capucci, Fernanda Gattinoni, Fendi, Renato Balestra, Biki, Irene Galitzine, Emilio Pucci, Fausto Sarli and many others made important contributions to the image of Italy around the world.

    The exhibition also highlights the fluid relationship of fashion design with art, architecture, filmmaking and theater, and explores the roles that Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice played in the production and staging of fashion during this extraordinarily creative and productive time.

    “This moment in history laid the foundation for Italy’s future ready-to-wear fashion, and the exhibition traces its beginnings within the social and cultural context,” said Stefano Tonchi. “The high fashion of that time was grounded in a strong sense of reality: They were luxury creations, but nonetheless practical; precious, embroidered textiles that had a certain simplicity; short cocktail dresses that allowed for movement; and warm, roomy coats accompanied by oversized handbags. This awareness of reality created an opportunity for a fashion system that truly served its patrons, with garments designed for the life of the modern woman.”

    Featured will be more than 230 designer garments, that define the identity of Italian fashion, revealing its themes and distinguishing features -- from spectacular creations that lit up grand ballrooms and theaters, to elegant cocktail dresses, from the distinctive black and white graphic look, to the chromatic explosion of the 1960s, from creations made for the actresses of the so-called Hollywood on the Tiber (with outfits specifically designed for Ava Gardner, Anita Ekberg, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Kim Novak, Anna Magnani), to results of sophisticated formal research of collaborating couturiers and artists, along with suits and coats that depict luxury expressed as day wear.

    Also featured will be accessories representing the exceptional Italian craftsmanship and innovation for which the “Made in Italy” brand became known, including costume jewelry, shoes, hats and handbags by such names as Coppola e Toppo, Ferragamo, Fragiacomo, Gucci and Roberta da Camerino.

    Complementing the clothing and accessories will be a selection of one-of-kind jewels by Bulgari that showcase its innovation and experimentation during this key period.
    Clothing, accessories and jewelry will be shown alongside art, film and photography in a dynamic installation.

    The exhibition highlights the rise of Italian cinema and role of filmmakers such as Federico Fellini, whose La Dolce Vita, reinvigorated interest in Rome, Luchino Visconti and Michelangelo Antonioni, and international styles of artists such as Luciano Fontana, whose slashed canvases inspired fashion designer Mila Schön.

    The years 1945 to 1968 were seminal to defining high fashion in Italy. In an effort to restore and stabilize the Italian post-World War II economy, significant financial investments were made to support and revitalize the Italian fashion industry. Drawing on a rich artistic and cultural history that was part of their everyday life, designers produced luxury creations that were also practical and helped reactivate textiles, silk and leather factories that provided jobs for skilled craftsmen. The factories were key to the revitalization of Italy’s economy after the war. Not only did the factories put skilled labor back in the workforce; the manufacturers were key advertisers in magazines, which promoted the new stylish and creative Italy.

    A special section of the exhibition that premiered during its Fall 2015 presentation at the Villa Reale in Monza, Italy, and that will be on view at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, features a unique collection of textiles that underscores the importance of the Italian textile industry in design and promotion of Italian fashion in the past as well as today. Italy’s high fashion and its textile industry are closely linked, as is evidenced in the choice of daywear, one of its most successful expressions. Among the fashion archives represented in the textile section are: Agnona, Bedetti Pedraglio, Botto Giuseppe & Figli, Bozalla, Clerici Tessuto, Faliero Sarti, Lanerossi, Lanificio Fratelli Placenza, Lanificio G.B. Conte, Lanificio Trabaldo Piero Togna, Lanificio Zignone, Luigi Verga, Marzotto, Pria, Ratti Rivetti, Tallia di Delfino, Taroni, Valditevere.

    Textile pattern and swatch books of the various and richly colored fabrics produced by Italy’s textile factories as well as fabrics themselves will be on display, along with research materials and photographs of models wearing clothing created from them.
  • Events: Reports

    The Light of Southern Italy

    A carefully selected exhibition curated by Marco Bertoli, The Light of Southern Italy highlights artists from across Italy’s southern regions including Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, and Sicilia. Mastering light and chromatic effects, these painters created landscapes, seascapes, genre scenes, and portraits of great beauty.

    The intensity of the Mediterranean light in these images accompanies the viewer throughougt the Pompeii excavations, the grandeur of Vesuvius, the rugged coastline, and the humble allure of the local people.

    “This remarkable exhibition showcases 27 Italian artists with 34 paintings ranging in subjects from seascapes and landscapes, to large-scale figural scenes of everyday life, and compelling portraits to name a few,” says curator Marco Bertoli. “All of the paintings come from important private collections. And while some have been exhibited before, others are being presented to the public for the first time.”

    The Light of Southern Italy is the first exhibition bringing together Italian artists from the 19th century and specifically from the Naples school. Why focus on this period? “Despite the fact that it is not well known in the United States,” the curator explains, “this is an extremely productive, diverse, and beautiful period of Italian artistic production—and we are eager to celebrate it!”

    Pleased to be in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute of New York in this endeavor, Marco Bertoli feels confident that the public will be excited and intrigued to learn more about this portion of Italy’s artistic heritage, particularly as it focuses on the southern regions, which are often overlooked in favor of art from the northern part of the country.

    “American viewers, who are for the most part unfamiliar with the artistic production of southern Italy, will love to see its beauty and value, especially the many Italian Americans who have ancestral ties to this area and to this particular period—which marks the beginning of the great wave of Southern Italian emigration.”

    This exhibition received generous support from Eataly; IFIM S.p.A., Milan; Santa Lucia Natural Spring Water; Gtech; IMA S.p.A, Bologna; and Luxury Living New York.
  • Events: Reports

    The Transformative Power of Artist Ruggiero

    Huge portraits and abstract paintings adorn the corridor of Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò: they are what Fabrizio Ruggiero refers to as ‘effigies’, the representation of specific person people. “The Transformative power of Art” is a series of huge portraits and paintings that were first exhibited at the United Nations in June 2015. 

    Now, until the end of October, it will be possible to admire them at La Casa Italiana. The artist,born and raised in Naples, was always fascinated by the nature of the places where he grew up. After graduating in architecture he began to travel and work in the fields of art and design: India, Africa and Asia.

    These travels influenced his creativity and moved his attention to people that have affected the world on a humanitarian and social level, and they became his inspiration: musicians, poets, writers, Nobel peace prize winners.

    People that have been, and some continue to be, pillars in the global development. For example, among some familiar faces, we find: Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan), Sebastião Salgado (Brazil), Miriam Makeba (South Africa), Gong Li (China), Joan Baez (USA), Joseph Beuys (Germany) and Maya Angelou (USA).

    The distinctiveness of these works is centered on the use of painting materials like sand, lime and natural pigments, and the return of an old technique, “Fresco”, where the painting is executed on wet lime plastered wall, in fact still ‘fresco’ (which in Italian means fresh), that gives the work itself opacity rather than lucidity. “Technology” the artist says “helps my way of making art, it wouldn’t be otherwise possible for me to work this way”.

    With regards to the huge abstract pictures, we can’t miss the parallelism with the maestro of contemporary art Alberto Burri, who breaks the rules by using burlap and lime for his works. The art of Fabrizio Ruggiero is therefore 'defined' between two apparently distant worlds: precisely, that of the ancient technique of the fresco and that of most contemporary ties to the master Burri.

    The focus of this exhibition is not just on abstract art and on the paintings themselves, but also on portraying what the concept of painting is today. Ruggiero wants to direct the attention of the spectators to the meaning of contemporary painting, a blend of social values, artistic skills and technological tools.
  • Events: Reports

    One Perfect Darkness. A Solo Show by Giorgio Casu

    Those who have followed Giorgio Casu in his events in New York city for the last 7 years know how much care and diversity can be found. From the white marble stunning lobby at Atelier on 42nd Street that followed Milton Glaser exhibit in 2010 to the live performance in 2011 at Gramercy Park triplex for Imaf festival and Corcoran group. The collaboration with other performers and artists are endless and considering that he just in his late thirties there is much more to expect. 

    WHERE
    This time the venue is an elegant two floors space of the renewed Hueb jewelry in the scenario of the upper east side that doesn’t need much introduction, it’s surrounded by the most important designers stores and brand facing the corner of 63th Street in the magic and unique vibe of Madison Avenue. 

    The show is displayed in 2 different settings: the first floor is a stunning showroom with the Hueb fine jewelry that it will be decorated with white orchids and the presentation on windows of Giorgio Casu new collection of scarves for the new brand Mozina Kakkar which for the artist is designing a collection on Indian sari. mozinakakkar.com.
     

    The first floor will be hosting the catering for the event. The second floor will be displayed as the Artist atelier, an important show of design objects and paintings , many of which , the artist announce, will be presented “ raw” on the wall as they were still being painted .

    There will be the presentation of the Butterfly guitar which has being design by the artist 2 years ago for his brand and the ceramics eggs realized for the artist by Cera Sarda. 
     

    The Butterfly Guitar 
    Born to offer the best quality sound performance on an unprecedented design, The Butterfly is now a custom made electric guitar produced by Argoove and designed by Italian New York based artist Giorgio Casu.

    Using the best materials and unifying the rare and precious line that only an 100% hand made can deliver, the project has been created with the handcraft custom made ability of master italian luthier Andrea Orru' .

    The two top range pickups offer to the players an incredible selection of acoustic and hybrid acoustic/electric sounds with a special three-position mini-toggle switch inserted on the top left of the guitar and a 2 knobs with a Push/Pull button in the Volume and Tone control.
     

    Other features include the Butterfly's carved maple top and mahogany back and a one-piece mahogany neck with a long neck tenon. The Left of Center Signature model comes in a black body with a white pick- guard, and a second version using the opposite colors, an outstanding elegant white creature with black fine lines in his unique design.

    Each guitar comes with the distinguish jorghe's design in the back to give even more authenticity, originality and prestige to this unparalleled sculpture like artist edition.
    Every piece is custom made for you, it will be numbered as a limited edition series of 333 total pieces and it will be delivered with the name of the owner engraved in the back of the fretboard. 
     

    Elephant Eggs
    The Elephant Eggs is an Unique project created thanks to the collaboration of Giorgio Casu, Argoove and CeraSarda in 2012 . The project aim to the promotion and production of high quality ceramic and art product, entirely hand made crafted by Cerasarda artist Thierri Mourot and and design by New York Based artist Giorgio Casu. Each piece is therefore unique; the pieces created so far are included in a larger production of unicolor edition a multicolor limited edition series. 
  • Art & Culture

    "Street Scraper”, an Art Installation by Carlo Sampietro

    The work will be display on Governors Island June 6, Sept 27 during the Figment NYC event.

    Street Scraper is an artistic reinterpretation of a mini golf course, using objects that rise from New York City’s sidewalks.

    “Today, sidewalks are seen as an unsafe place, full of traffic, noise and crime and people are afraid of it. 'Street Scraper' brings back the notion of the street as a safe social melting pot”.
     
    Italian born artist Carlo Sampietro present 'Street Scraper', a combination of symbolic props and unique objects that are a part of our daily city life, including two blue police barricades, a “Metro” and “Village Voice” newspaper box, a fire hydrant, a yellow fetch barrel, and a round manhole cover with a pole with parking sign regulations. These elements seem to emerge from a concrete sidewalk.
     
    Spectators would be able to play mini-golf by shooting the ball through the two blue police barricades, passing above and through the street objects, finally falling into the hole in the center of the manhole cover which has a parking regulation sign in it, similar to the flag in a golf course.
    In our everyday journey, these objects are obstacles that effect New Yorker’s emotional and cognitive perception of the city landscape. In this installation, instead of separating people, barricades will connect them. Instead of irritating NYC drivers, the parking regulation signs would bring the joy of victory because it is the final “hole”.
     
    Street Scraper brings back something that no longer is. For past generations, the street was a place where kids played and grown ups socialized. People walked right out their front doors. It was safe, lively, and an extension of the home.

    The neighbors were an extension of the family, and the street was part of that life. Today, sidewalks are seen as an unsafe place, full of traffic, noise and crime and people are afraid of it. Street Scraper brings back the notion of the street as a safe social melting pot.

    Carlo Sampietro is an Italian mixed media artist based in New York City. He enjoyed a successful career as an art and creative director at advertising agencies in London, Milan and New York before shifting focus to contemporary art.

    His work is primarily focused towards exploring social and cultural responsibilities that we face and create as urban citizens. His observations of landscape evolution, human preconceptions, use of natural resources, similarities and differences between societies, cultures, and cities are translated into multimedia and found-object installation art.

    For more info <<<
  • Arte e Cultura

    Una colazione italiana per 'salvare' Madre Cabrini

    L’International Patrons of Duomo di Milano è una public charity che si propone di promuovere negli Stati Uniti d’America una maggiore conoscenza e comprensione del patrimonio artistico e storico del Duomo di Milano.

    E Milano, attraverso di lei, chiede questa volta aiuto a New York per raccogliere fondi per il restauro del duomo e della guglia raffigurante Santa Francesca Xavier Cabrini, madre dei migranti. Il crowdfunding “Save The Saint” comincera’infatti il tre marzo e terminera’ il primo maggio.

    Santa Francesca Cabrin, religiosa e missionaria italiana naturalizzata statunitense, e' stata una figura fondamentale per gli emigrati italiani.

    Fu infatti fondatrice della congregazione delle Missionarie del Sacro Cuore di Gesù e la prima cittadina americana ad essere proclamata santa nel 1946.

    Un importante simbolo di collegamente tra l’Italia e l’America in tempi in cui l’emigrazione era ben diversa da quella di oggi. E' considerata dai newyorkesi “la madre dei migranti”. “Non a est ma ovest! fu il suo consiglio”.

    L'organizzazione nonprofit, International Patrons of Duomo di Milano, presso il terrazzo coperto della Birreria di Eataly, in presenza del Console Generale Quintavalle e di altri rappresentanti istituzionali ha organizzato una colazione che ha visto svolgersi anche alcune performance.

    Laluminosa birreria del prestigioso food store Eataly si e’ prestata infatti molto bene anche alla recitaizone del maestro Finazzer Flory che ha portato in scena, in maniera molto efficace, il primo capitolo dei Promessi Sposi, romanzo del celebre poeta e romanziere milanese, immancabile oggetto di studio nelle scuole italiane.

    Nel corso della colazione due bellissime fanciulle hanno sfilato indossando i capi della stilista designer Raffaella Curiel dal fascino caravaggesco, ispirati al tema di Expo2015 e al simbolo di Milano, il Duomo.

    E' stato, Stefano Albertini, direttore della Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’, dopo la performance artistica a parlare agli invitati dell'importanza del patrimonio artistico e culturale italiano e della figura di Santa Francesca Cabrini.

    La cifra da raggiungere per il restauro della guglia dedicata a Madre Cabrini è di 150 mila dollari. Le donazioni possono essere effttuate virtualemtne attraverso la piattaforma www.foritaly.org.

    Federica Olivares, membro dell'organizzazone, nel presentare l'iniziativa ha ricordato Milano come città globale nei secoli, con le sue eccellenze ed i lsuo stile. E il "duomo e' il portavoce di questa bellezza".

    Alessandra Pellegrini, chief development officer della International Patrons ha precisato"Chi effettuerà donazioni avrà qualcosa in cabio. Per esempio chi donerà 50 dollari avrà il nome inciso in una grande targa sotto la guglia di Madre Cabrini".

    "È un gemellaggio che unirà sotto un simbolo milanesi e i newyorkesi." ha aggiunto. Ha espresso, fra l'altro, la sua gratitudine a Oscar Farinetti che con  entusiamo ha deciso di ospitare il Duomo di Milano.

    A fare gli onori di casa. nel locale  arredato con grandi ceste di pane e illuminato da un tiepido, sole dove e' stata servita una vera colazione italiana , Dino Borri,  responsabile di Eataly NY.
     

    Ricordiamo infine, che,  in connessione con il tanto atteso Expo Milano 2015, organizzata dalla Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo, e’ possibile visitare da Eataly  la collezione dei suggestivi pezzi provenienti dal Duomo. La collezione, aperta al pubblico, e' stata inaugurata due mesi fa ospiti dal sindaco di Milano Giuliano Pisapia.

  • Art & Culture

    Back to the '80s : From Arte Povera to the Rediscovery of Nuovi Nuovi

    While politics and economics underwent a profound transformation and culture transitioned from progressive modernism to the postmodernist weak thought, Italian art at the time elaborated old and new themes using the most disparate materials.

    Artists shifted from using industrial materials such as iron, coal, wood bundles, neon, mirrors, terracotta—common in Arte Povera (Mario Merz, Jannis Kounellis, Alighiero Boetti, Pierpaolo Calzolari, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Emilio Prini)—to dismantling installations and favoring paint and color—popular among Transavanguardia, Anacronisti and Nuovi Nuovi.

    A new creativity flourished in those transitional years: the harsh ideology of the economic miracle years and the 1968 protest gave way to reconnecting with the past.

    The new generation of artists after Arte Povera and Conceptualism rediscovered the value of painting, history and two-dimensionality, while maintaining an evolutionary vision of art.

    The world, explored through the installations and actions of the 1960s and 1970s, dematerializes into the canvas with the birth of Transavanguardia (Mimmo Paladino, Sandro Chia, Enzo Cucchi, Francesco Clemente, Nicola De Maria) launched by Achille Bonito Oliva in the mid-1970s.

    In the same years a new group of artists from different areas of the peninsula emerges, supported by Renato Barilli, Francesca Alinovi and Roberto Daolio: the Nuovi Nuovi. Today, Ierimonti Gallery rediscovers and revives this group, after the success of their first exhibition at the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York in 1980.

    This versatile group of artists draws an imaginary, intangible and symbolic portrait of the Italian cultural context of those years. With an eclectic and retrospective attitude, the Nuovi Nuovi embraced the idea of “different repetition” (Gilles Deleuze, Renato Barilli), or the repetition of the past, retour à, and the value of quotations.

    The ideological and conceptual lightning leads artists like Luigi Ontani, Bruno Benuzzi, Felice Levini, and Salvo to self-figurative, colorful and ironic forms. An empirical chromaticism replaces the political black and white, with Luciano Bartolini’s poetic, initiatory and contemplative visions, Giuseppe Maraniello’s and Luigi Mainolfi’s material dexterity, Aldo Spoldi’s post- pop irony, and Antonio Michelangelo Faggiano’s retrieval of erudite and mythological images. 

    With “Back to the 80’s. From Arte Povera to the Rediscovery of Nuovi Nuovi,” Ierimonti Gallery aims to explore a movement rich in expressive potential and not yet inflated from the market, and to reconstruct its historical context and grammar.
  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    Prova for a Neapolitan Pizza with a Contemporary Twist.

    Bring Neapolitan pizza to a different level. This is the provocation behind Prova.
    This new place will seduce you with differents kind of pizza and with its modern style.

    An ambitious collaboration between Donatella Arpaia, restaurateur/TV personality, Ribalta co-founder Rosario Procino and Maurizio de Rosa, a partner of Sushi Nakazawa.

     

    This specific location is the only one in New York where Stefano Ferrara, the master oven-builder from Naples, built an oven from scratch. The place was going to be sold and most of the people who were purchasing the space had no interest in pizza. They got together a big team of people which sheds some kind of light on the space to try to save it and save the oven. The logic behind Prova is to use the dough as the base, as the canvas, so the artist can draw a wonderful masterpiece, displaying of some of the most traditional pizza and some of the most novelty, with all of these variant ingredients.

    We have chatted about this project with true neapolitan Rosario Procino, Maurizio de Rosa  and born and raised in Naples Chef Pasquale Cozzolino.

    Why did you choose to open Prova pizzeria restaurant?
    We decided, along with Donatella and Maurizio, to build a new pizzeria and do something different, to elevate the pitch of pizza.Prova, which is Italian for “try” or “proof” is a kind of experiment. The idea is to really elevate the pitch when it comes to pizza. A few years ago, back in 2007 or 2008, there has been a huge explosion of Neapolitan pizza in New York.

    I was one of the few that started the movement that has brought us to where Neapolitan pizza is known all The idea was, if you put crazy ingredients on pasta and other things, why can’t you put them on pizza?over the country. Practically, we believe we have developed over the years a fantastic dough, where we work with very particular ingredients with a very long maturation process and only natural yeast to make a very light, delicate dough that is highly digestible.  

    The pizzeria will be a display of some of the most traditional pizza and some of the most novelty, with all of these variant ingredients.

    Another interesting is the preparation of the dough.

    Over the years, we studied the different characteristics for how we could achieve the most digestible, most light, most delicate dough. A few of the things that will be different at Prova will be that we are going to use a mix of our own flour. We are going to get different kinds of flour, including a stone-mill flour from Italy and we are going to create our own mix. We are also going to use bottled water from Italy to make the dough. That adds quality to the dough itself. In terms of the mineral composition of the water, it will help achieve the goal for the final result of the dough. In order to achieve the best possible product, one of the other things we will be using at Prova is bottled water imported from Italy in preparing our dough.

    You have decided to elevate the pizza from the ingredients, the atmosphere and obviously the wine.
    Prova will be the first Neapolitan pizzeria that wine is a big component of this project and we decided to be as close as we could to our tradition in the roots of where pizza comes from. There will be a very interesting wine list with wines sourced from the Campania Region. It’s going to be a very small variety of grapes, all from different levels, different producers with a very tight relationship with the territory from the Naples region itself.

    Maurizio, can you tell us about the selection of the wines?
    We made a very courageous choice: the wine list is going to be entirely wine from Campania. This region is not exactly the region that is most renowned for sparkling wine. We have Asprinio, which has been made since the 1500s. Another good one is Feudi San Gregorio started in the early 2000s. It is a collaboration between the Feudi San Gregorio and Selosse – Selosse is a champagne house that is very prominent and famous. The idea was to use international champagne techniques to produce with native Italian wines. Very few people know that before World War II, beer was not very popular in Italy so the combination of pizza and beer did not really exist. When the American army finally settled in Naples, they began to bring their tradition of drinking beer and pizza but in ancient times, people used to drink Gragnano.

    Gragnano, as people can guess, really takes its name from the town of Gragnano on the Sorrento peninsula. It’s a sparkling red wine. I love this producer, Cantine Federiciane. The reason that Gragnano is really suitable for pizza is three things: first of all, it’s a red wine, and as we know, pizza can be quite bold, especially when it’s topped with tomato and mozzarella. The second reason is the Piedirosso grape that is the underlying grape for this wine has a very high acidity so it makes for a wine that is very refreshing. Then, this particular re-fermentation in large tanks makes for a wine that is quite brilliant, quite exuberant, quite vivacious. Pizza really needs something to pick it up because we are talking about grain and flour. I prefer these beverages with pizza rather than beer, which is the predominant tradition, both in Italy and in America today.  

    Pasquale which kind of ingredients you use to make a really unique pizza?
    I decided to create these new dishes but instead of the plates, the shell – the crust of the pizza. I decided to import everything from Italy – the best food on the market: slow food, micro production on Mount Vesuvius or little productions of cheese on small farms around Naples. These give us the opportunity to present a product to the customers that is a next-level pizza – a five-star pizza. My goal is to try to have a star, the best service, the best food, the best ingredients and the best people working.

    We imported “pomodorini” tomatoes from Mount Vesuvius; they are called piennolo. They grow on Mount Vesuvius and there is a very small production. They are sewn and picked by hand. They are conserved for at least six months. The flavor is unbelievable. We have special pizzas, like sea urchin pizza, in which we use the best sea urchins from Maine. I think its one of the signature pizzas we have at this restaurant. We import the best squid to garnish the sea urchin. I’m trying to use the best buffalo cheese on the market. We have the Casatico, Quadrello Blu. All of the cheeses come from the small farms around Terra di Lavoro area. It’s a little area between Lazio and Campania. We are trying to do something very special.

    To do all of this, of course, I needed a team. My team is Giuseppe Manco, who is here  with me always. He is the current world champion pizza maker in Las Vegas in 2014.

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