WHEN IN ROME
Celebrated chef and Roman native Fulvio Pierangelini goes hunting and gathering with KENDALL HILL in the Eternal City.
Chef Fulvio Pierangelini takes Kendall Hill hunting and gathering in the Eternal City.
It’s morning coffee time in the terraced gardens of Rome’s Hotel de Russie and Fulvio Pierangelini looks every bit the sixty-something rock star in shades and black Issey Miyake jacket. “Now you are in Rome, you are in paradise,” my host smiles, gesturing at the oasis around us. He sips espresso and tells me the jacket, which he bought on sale, has been incredibly useful for a globetrotting chef. Whenever he finds something in his mouth that he doesn’t care to eat, he pretends to cough, palms the offending morsel and drops it into a pocket. In Western Australia a few years ago at the Margaret River Gourmet Escape Pierangelini found himself with a mouthful of kangaroo. He didn’t like it – “it’s like a big mouse!” – so he popped it in the Issey.
In the Faroe Islands he was kept busy shovelling puffin, fermented lamb and live langoustines into his jacket. “Fermented lamb is one of the most terrible foods you can have!” he assures me.
Today there will be no need for Pierangelini’s pockets. He is taking me on a tour of only his favourite places in Rome.
The celebrated chef, a national treasure in Italy, was born in the Eternal City but spent much of his life in Tuscany where he founded the renowned seafood restaurant Gambero Rosso in San Vicenzo, a fishing village on the west coast. It had two Michelin stars and ranked twelfth on The World’s 50 Best list when he closed it in 2008. His heart wasn’t in it any more.
A year later, he was appointed creative director of food at élite hotel group Rocco Forte, crafting menus for properties from Rome (Hotel de Russie) to Florence (Hotel Savoy) to Frankfurt (Villa Kennedy). Quite the career change.
In Tuscany he worked lunch and dinner every day for 28 years (“without me, the restaurant was closed”) and answered telephone calls himself, infamously refusing seats to people with poor phone manners. Now he travels the world overseeing the Rocco Forte kitchens, including prepping for new properties in Jeddah, Shanghai and a second Roman address, Hotel de la Ville, beside the Hassler on Via Sistina.
“It has completely changed my life,” the chef says of his career change. “I didn’t like to have five chefs near me and now I have 500. Can you imagine?
“To cook, for me, was always a necessity. But
I had to learn my style, how I cook, so I could teach others. Before, my work was emotional. Now it is more technique. And very complicated.”
Life may have changed dramatically but his food philosophy remains steadfast. “We buy only the best product. We try to make it simple. Simplicity is a point of arrival, of course, not a point of departure.”
Diners will still find Pierangelini’s simple but sublime spaghetti pomodoro on hotel menus, and
his much-copied passatina di ceci e gambero, chickpea purée with prawns. We’ll make the pomodoro later at his home, but first we must go to market.
Today we’re visiting Campo de’ Fiori, not his usual haunt but it’s close to other food landmarks he wants to show me. We head to Da Claudio, the finest grocer on the square. Ropes of chilli and garlic dangle from shade-cloth frames; trestles beckon with purple artichoke and golden zucchini flowers, Sicilian eggplant, butter beans and Regina Claudia greengages from France.
We need tomatoes for lunch. “The best one to make pomodoro are this one,” he announces, fingering the scarred bottom of a casalino, a popular heirloom variety (pisanello in Florence, corleone in Sicily). “You see, the modern ones are perfect; these are not.”
A stallholder spots Pierangelini and thrusts out his hands. “Oh! Grande chef!” he cries.
For fish Pierangelini heads across the city to
Meglio Fresco, a sustainable fishmonger that also serves lunch and dinner. “I go there when I want to buy some good fish for the family. Just the fresh fish of the day, whatever they recommend,” he says. He might stay for some oysters – Meglio Fresco has an excellent selection, including Ancelin, fines de claires and tsarskaya – or perhaps langoustines. Or tuna.
A five-minute walk from Campo de’ Fiori takes us into the heart of the Roscioli empire. Our first stop is the Roscioli family’s original business, the bakery Antico Forno Roscioli, established in 1972. “This is the place where you have the best bread – maybe in Italy, in Rome for sure,” says Pierangelini, who buys Hotel