MARCO APICELLA

“My first memory from a kitchen is from when I was very little,” begins the tale from the mouth of Italian chef Marco Apicella. “My parents have run this restaurant for 40 years and my mom was the chef until recently,” he says pointing at what is now his own restaurant kitchen.

“I remember when I used to go to the kitchen, she was always very busy, moving quickly, she did everything with passion and extreme precision, giving orders and controlling everything. She was like a general. And she inspired me greatly,” he trails on enthusiastically. “I owe everything to my parents, as they have transmitted to me their love for cooking.  And they taught me the meaning of hard work and how to follow your dreams and fight for your goals.“

His parents also instilled in him a belief, says Marco, that cooking goes way beyond the techniques of a chef. To him, cooking is more about love, passion, dedication, rigor and family. “When the chef's techniques and ego dominate these aspects, everything loses meaning in my opinion,” states the man who still remembers the good smells that came out of the kitchen many years ago. The man who as a child would spend most of his days in the restaurant until he decided that it would be his life.

Today Marco is back in the kitchen of the restaurant he grew up in and where something clicked in his heart and brain many, many years ago. And here, he now tries to convey his ideas using the knowledge accumulated over his years in the business, while still respecting his origins and traditions. Or, as he so beautifully puts it in his own words: “My aim is to convey emotions and memories through the enhancement of my environment. I try to leave a small mark, an indelible memory of an experience.”

He seems perfectly happy and grounded with the idea of taking over his childhood restaurant, but still admits it was not an easy choice for a celebrated chef who has worked in famous kitchens all over Italy. 

His very first internship was at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo a five-star luxury on the shore of Lake Como, he recalls. “The chef  was Osvaldo Presazzi, a charismatic man,” Marco remembers. “competent and attentive to every detail. Watching him work, I swore to myself that I'd become great like him.”

Another turning point, he says, was working under chef Davide Caranchini At Materia. Here, young Marco learned techniques and flavor notes that he had till then only read about: “Thanks to chef Caranchini I learned new techniques, I discovered new flavors and the most important thing I learned from him was how to stimulate creativity in the realization of a dish.”

Leaving the province of Como, Marco moved to Milan and started under famous chef Elio Sironi at Restaurant Ceresio7. And once again, his memories of the experience sound almost more like a love story than anything else. “I am grateful to chef Sironi for giving me the chance to work for him,” he says with great passion and pride. 

“I joined a brigade of 15 cooks, all of them really good and close-knit. It was a very special period of my life, I learned so much. Sironi's cuisine is based on contemporary Italian cuisine with elements from French, Spanish and Japanese cuisine. Sironi is not a mere chef, he is a leader, he is the heart and soul of the restaurant. In his kitchen, I created some friendships that I will probably carry on forever.“

Marco Apicella On the most important of influences

His last in line on a long list of influences is probably the most important, and the one he forever credits with instilling in him the passion of a chef. She does not, he admits, have the technique and knowledge of the chefs he mentioned. But in her dishes she has always managed to convey her love for her profession. “My mother Marisa Galletti, was the chef of Al Peschereccio. S​​he is an example for me and always will be no matter how high and how far my ambitions will bring me in the future.”

His words are as beautiful as they are passionate and make it clear that family is everything to the chef who even abandoned the opportunity to work abroad for the sake of his family: “In my career I have never had the opportunity to work abroad,” he sighs. “Many times I have been close but for various reasons I always had to refuse. From a young age I tried to help my family by making sacrifices, but these sacrifices made me who I am today.”

Instead of going abroad, he spent the early years of his career, teaching himself the cuisines of other countries by studying cookbooks from his favorite chefs. Learning as much as he could from their recipes, ideas and style. Starting with Spain and the molecular cuisine of Adrià and the essentials of Victor Arguinzoniz, passing through the French Bocuse and Ducasse, ending with Marco Pierre White, and René Redzepi, M.Nilson and Puglisi. Days were spent in the kitchen, studying the cuisines of his visionaries while at the same time creating his own style which he describes as local and essential.

“My cuisine is very essential,” he says, “I take inspiration from the cuisine of my origins.I try to recall the feelings I experienced when eating dishes prepared by my mom. In my kitchen, I focus on local products. I collaborate with small producers that create fantastic products. I try to revisit recipes that are slowly forgotten and try to give them new life. “

I do not want to be a “rockstar chef”

“I do not want to be a ’rockstar chef’,” he carries on with passion. “I want to make a true connection with my guests, impart in them my ideas, my emotions, my memories, my history and the legacy that has been given to me. My grandmother taught my mom all she knows, And she, in turn, taught me. Me? I try to pass it on as well to my guests.”

He does, however, also state firmly that his cuisine is not yet clearly defined, it is in continuous development, as he thinks it should be. And as he thinks Italian cuisine, too, should be. “I always look for new ways that lead me to a perfect final result although I know there is no perfection. It would be too boring to get to a point where you cannot go further. The obsessed drive for perfection pushes us to improve everyday. To find new ways. To make mistakes. To take a step back. Understand the mistakes made... and start over. ”

To Marco, Italian cuisine is traditions, products and artisans. Everytime a cook touches a traditional recipe, he argues, he has a couple of tasks: to enhance the products he uses, to honor the artisans who have provided that particular product with passion, and to maintain the soul of the recipe.

“Every corner of Italy is full of traditions,” he says “recipes that are praised and others that are slowly disappearing. All of us, I think, have a task of remembering them… of remembering our origins and  our traditions. They are part of our heritage and we must preserve them and enhance them for future generations.”

“My passion for food was not born from eating or creating star dishes. It was born thanks to traditional dishes that my mom used to cook and from the memories of those smells that took me back to my childhood. This is the brightest time for  our kitchen, Italian chefs are using their knowledge and experiences to create their own version of Italian cuisine, and that is an amazing thing for me. In my own small way I am trying too ... We have to carry on our traditions, but this does not mean not being able to bring them up to present day. The Italian kitchen is constantly evolving but it has to be a thoughtful evolution.”

Marco Apicella On coming home

And thus begins the answer to the perhaps most pressing question: Why then, did such a well-versed and well-traveled chef who could have easily landed a job anywhere in the world decide to come full circle and return to run his parent’s restaurant? Not unsurprisingly, the answer has to do with tradition, passion, heart and emotion.

Until early 2020, life was hectic for Marco. He was pulling exhausting shifts. Had no time to think and was burning out. All he did was work on and try to give the best of himself. Then one day, in February 2020, Corona hit Italy and the rest of the world and it proved a needed break for Marco who had to stay home for three months. Left with plenty of time to think about his life, and a chance to sum up what he had achieved. And it was then he realized that something was missing.

“I was missing creating my own dishes, pulling out all my ideas and applying them to techniques I had learned over the years. I also realized that I missed my family’s restaurant. This place is part of me and also my parent’s heritage,” he remembers.

“This restaurant is the result of many years of sacrifice and hard work. At that time, I received other job offers as head-chef, but I decided to follow my instinct. It was something I had to do. I had to go back to this restaurant that my family created from nothing and worked it up to be a renowned restaurant in the area.” He smiles, before ending on the perhaps most beautiful words of the conversation:

“Today, my brother and I are embarking on a journey with our own ideas but always with a constant reminder about where we come from and who we are. I really think my idea of an ideal restaurant is closely linked to that of the family restaurant.”