The meeting with the 'pizzaricercatore' of Saporè.
If in Greek mythology Mount Olympus was inhabited by supernatural, immortal beings who ruled over the lives of men, the world of gastronomy also has its Olympians, somewhat superhuman inhabitants who somehow guide and influence people's trends and choices.
Renato Bosco is one of the inhabitants of the pizzathe one and only pizzaricercatore. Italian pizza, of course, but above all gourmet pizza.
He studies doughs, fillings, uses only seasonal products, selected flours and long rising times. His Roman pizza is 'double crunch', one crunchiness unparalleled. Round, pan-fried or by the metre, the Saporè is a journey of textures and flavours; almost a menu, from starter to dessert, all in the world of leavened goods.
It is nice, perhaps even romantic, to think that things happen by chance.
It is said of him that he picked up the shovel as a young waiter in a pizzeria in Salerno, and that that moment was the electrocution. But no, I believe that nothing happens by chance.
'Pizza is my insatiable energy, bread is the simplicity of memories, passion is my best part'. All I had to do was ask Renato Bosco of that simplicity of memories to dispel randomness.
"My mother used to send me early in the morning to buy bread,' he says, 'and when I would enter the bakery, in San Martino Buon Albergo, in the province of Verona, I would be struck by the smell. The simplicity of memories is this smell of bread, something that affects all the senses: the sense of smell, sight, the touch of when I used to break the bread with my hands, and then the taste. This 360-degree involvement has always fascinated me, the sensations have become stronger and stronger over the years, and still today, in my search, I rediscover every day that scent from when I was a child"..
Renato Bosco was not born a baker or pizza maker, something drove him to become one, that energy he calls passion, which drives an even more important force, curiosity.
'Curiosity,' he explains, 'is that feeling in your belly, in your stomach, that drives you to work harder, to search, to understand, to experiment. Curiosity is what makes me always be restless, what never makes me stop and which has led my colleagues to call me a 'pizzaricercatore'. Finally, curiosity is also that force that moves you to study, always and a lot. Because studying is fundamental, pizza makers today are no longer kids looking for a stopgap job. It is a job that requires knowledge and awareness'.
Yes, the pizza chef today is more aware, has a plan and training as a chef. Goodbye to 'fancifully random' stuffed pizzas. Today, also thanks to Renato Boscopizza follows the colours and flavours of the seasons, respecting and revaluing a proper diet at the rhythm of nature.
Even cooks are approaching the world of bakery, just think of Gennaro Esposito, Massimiliano Alaimo or Niko Romitowhose bread was the symbol of Identità Golose Milano 2019.
'I think that pizza will play a very strong role in the coming years,' Bosco confirms, 'an important role also in the recovery and reorganisation of Italian cuisine that we are witnessing. I am convinced that we will find Italian cuisine at the top of the world in the near future, together with pizza'.
But a pizza made properly, the one whose secrets, word pizzaricercatore, are 'in the right selection of flours, according to the type of pizza to be made, in the choice of yeast and the type and timing of baking'.
And if, when speaking of flours, today, research is also a recovery of tradition, with the great return of ancient grains, that of yeasts is a knowledge yet to be discovered. Bakers, pizza makers and pastry chefs: to each his own yeast. But no limits for Renato Bosco, who from Ambassador of the Taste of White Art, interchanges yeasts and contaminates: panettone technique also for pizza, pizza technique for baking.
This is how the experience at Saporè becomes unique: pizzas to be shared (because they are cut into pieces for that), so you can taste a thousand balances, delicate, decisive or almost sweet. The game comes into its own and I ask Renato Bosco to give us identikit pizza lovers.
'There are the greedy ones,' he laughs, 'those who want lots of additions on their pizza, who always want 'toyland' on their plate. Then come the squeamish ones who make you take out the oregano because they don't like it, who always tend to pull away a bit, challenged. But the ones I adore are the enjoyers, who rely on my sensations, who are ready to be guided by me in an experience entrusted to my hands and my curiosity'.
And as many pizzas go out of the oven, don't be surprised if Renato loves margherita: 'I am a margherita pizza yes, I always eat margherita, because it is the base, the starting point. Flour, water, salt and yeast: from a margherita I can tell if the products used are quality, if there is extra virgin olive oil, what kind of tomato has been put in. Those of the margherita pizza are the basic flavours of any other pizza'.
Here we are back to what's important, to that simplicity of bread that gave the 'start' to this story and to the career of Renato Bosco.
One last thing. Do not think that the Olympians, the gastronomic gods of today, influence but are not immortal. The DNA by Renato Bosco is now eternal: its yeast is deposited at the Saint-Vith World Yeast Library, in Belgium, and, refreshed with perseverance and by expert hands, will be the perpetual memory of that pizza maker who one day, by chance but perhaps not, picked up the shovel.
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