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exploring taste – Spring/Summer 2016 people – Da Vittorio’s cuisine

s it possible to distill the essence of Da Vittorio in one whether you are chatting to them together or separately.
word? The answer is yes: family. “Working together helps: where one of us can’t reach, the
ITo be welcomed by the Cereas is to come home. The home other steps in,” Chicco explains. “The only draw-back is that
of Enrico and Roberto, known to all as Chicco and Bobo, we are both stubborn: two typical Bergamo hardheaded lads.
the brothers and chefs who won their family restaurant the We both always assume to be right and there always comes
third coveted Michelin star, six years ago. And the home of a time when you have to just stop. And trust.” Bobo echoes
Francesco, the business backbone of the family enterprise. It his brother: “We grew up elbow-fighting each other in the
is the home of Rossella, the front of house who watches over kitchen, always competing; if one tried a new dish, the other
every detail. Of Bruna, the family matriarch, with her faithful would try to improve it. But the competition between us is
little black poodle always in tow. Presiding over everything healthy, maybe it is what got us here.” The only real surprise,
and everyone, is the spirit of father Vittorio, the one who, on if you can call it that, is how little time they get to spend
th
the 6 of April 1966, opened their first business in Bergamo, in together in the same kitchen nowadays, because of the many
the same location where the fifth member of the clan, Barbara, commitments they both have. Sunday morning, however,
now manages the historical Caffè Cavour 1880. Eleven years is still a sacred time, when everyone sits around the table to
ago, Da Vittorio relocated to its new premises in Brusaporto, a plan the upcoming week, define priorities and deadlines.
few kilometers out of town, in an elegant residence surrounded Da Vittorio is a restaurant, a hotel, a café, but also a cooking
by vineyards which is now a member of the luxury hospitality school, a recently opened bistro in Bergamo’s airport, a
circuit Relais & Châteaux. The Cereas have defined and catering service, and many other side projects that range from
expanded upon their paternal legacy, without losing sight of events such as the Vinitaly exposition to business partnerships
what really matters: “The kitchen is and always will be at the outside of Italy. “Today, we have thirty people in the kitchen,
center of our work. Food never ceases to inspire us, and we hope one hundred twenty employees just in the restaurant. All
it will continue to inspire others. The food has to be a reward for together, we employ three hundred people.” Enrico’s figures
those who come to our restaurant.” These are Enrico’s words, mean big business, but the atmosphere here is still that of a
they already sound like a manifesto. home. “We grew up in Bergamo and we stayed here, watching
The Cerea brothers are four hands in the kitchen and one the town change with time. We wanted to do something for
mind, you see it in how often they give similar answers, this community and the town has repaid us in so many ways.

The Cerea brothers are four hands in the kitchen and one mind,
you see it in how often they give similar answers, whether you are chatting
to them together or separately, working together helps:

“Where one of us can’t reach, the other steps in.”

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