Damiano Nigro

You’re one of the leading chefs in a region now on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, since 22 June 2014. Has anything changed since that day?Table reservations in the gourmet restaurants have increased noticeably and lots of guests come from countries that previously had struggled to come to the Alta Langa.Damiano Nigro’s dish, what is it?In every dish that I put on my menu I try to represent myself with the obsessive search for the excellence of the raw material. It would be too restrictive to name a single dish. Which ingredient will never be missing from your cooking?In respect for the raw materials that my land offers me, of which fortunately there are many, that ingredient couldn’t be anything but the quality of being seasonal.A Michelin star has been shining beside your name for years. How does a chef’s cooking change after such recognition?A Michelin star marks an important achievement in a chef’s career, denying it would be a lie. If anything, once attained, the star itself highly motivates the chef and his team to work, day after day, to continue to grow and improve more and more, all together.You began your culinary adventure between Gualtiero Marchesi’s cookers: the start, of the maestro Marchesi?I’ve got wonderful memories and it couldn’t be otherwise. Among the many things I remember are the discipline, the great technique in the kitchen, the matching of culture and art with cooking itself, the intelligence in composing the dishes. And it is for all these reasons that to me Marchesi is The maestro.Since 2006 you have been running the kitchen in the Villa d’Amelia restaurant. How did the association begin and when did you decide to give up your role as sous-chef alongside Enrico Crippa?I was asked by the owner of the Villa d’Amelia to take up this role a little after the restaurant opened in 2006. The beauty of the location and the surrounding land, and especially the chance to develop my own cooking project independently were the factors that led me to leave my role as sous-chef alongside a superstar like Enrico and to begin this fantastic adventure.Your cuisine takes in the Langhe, nearby Liguria and your own Apulia. How do you manage to make so many flavours go together? By knowing all the regions well, and especially by tasting them. I like to try and combine with intelligence and sobriety the various ingredients offered by each region that are able to go well together, for example like Seirass ricotta gnocchi with broccoli, shrimp with its little hood: a dish that you will find on the Villa d’Amelia’s autumn a la carte menu.