During the first Fashion Loves Food Gala held at Palazzo Parigi in Milan by WWD in partnership with The Style Gate and Galateo & Friends, Valeriano Antonioli, chief executive officer of Lungarno Collection, and Takahiko Kondo, co-executive chef of Gucci Osteria Firenze, spoke about the concept of food and hospitality in a panel moderated by Marco Bonaldo, CEO of Galateo & Friends.
Gucci Osteria first opened in Florence in 2018 inside the Gucci Garden, headed by three-Michelin-star chef Massimo Bottura. It has since then expanded to other locations in Beverly Hills, Tokyo and Seoul.
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“We can say that in every restaurant there is a different interpretation because Massimo always leaves a free interpretation in every restaurant and therefore we have the opportunity to grow [professionally] in a free way,” said Kondo.
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“I arrived there last year, while my wife Karime Lopez [co-executive chef] was there from the beginning. So we can say that my love for her made me follow her there. We’ve known each other from a very long time. We started a long-distance relationship and just last year we felt that the right moment for us to be closer had come and we decided to do so.”
As a couple in life and at work, it was important for them to find a balance. He continued, “My work with Karime is very respectful because I learn, I never stop learning. We are from two different cultures, she is Mexican and I am Japanese and there is this multicultural aspect in our menus.”
Kondo’s cuisine is very much inspired by Tuscany’s cuisine, but he is open to experimenting, as he cited the “Cannolo che vuole diventare un cannellone [a cannolo that wants to become a cannellone],” which is made of toasted and dehydrated cannellini beans with the addition of Sangiovese, and a ragout made from Chianina meat and salted ricotta foam.
Tracing the history of Lungarno Collection, the hotel company controlled by the Ferragamo family, Antonioli said it harks back to 25 years ago, when the Florence-based family were presented with a real estate opportunity, becoming the owners of three hotels that were to be renovated in the Italian city. “The great intuition of [president] Leonardo Ferragamo was to appoint architect Michele Bönan, asking him to renovate them as if they were private residences of the Ferragamo family and not hotels,” said Antonioli.
The Ferragamo name does not appear in the hotel collection, since the family wanted “to create a different experience with each hotel and perhaps for the same customer at different moments in their life,” explained Antonioli.
Today there are also three hotels by the Portait moniker in Florence, Rome and the latest in Milan, which opened last year.
“The Portrait is an expression born from the Lungarno Collection which however does not only represent Florence, but also the craftsmanship and also a certain style and elegance that the Ferragamo family has,” continued Antonioli. “Our goal is to be able to open a Portrait in every Italian cultural city,” he said, while explaining that since the company manages the hotels directly, it’s too early to think about opening additional units outside of the country.