Slices/

BY GIUSY FERRAINA

From the picture we have just painted, Giulia is quite untypical for a girl of her age: she almost sounds like an alien when she speaks but, from her voice and the emotion she puts into telling you about her life, it is immediately clear that she likes it: it's her world and it's a world where she lives well, because she takes care of it (and maybe we should do the same). We met Giulia Vicini during the World Pizza Championship and we saw her on the podium for the three best classic pizzas but - more importantly - she was the absolute winner of the first edition of the "Pizza of Change" sustainability award, organised and wanted in the event by Riccardo Agugiaro of Molini Agugiaro & Figna and by Massimo Puggina, editorial director of Pizza e Pasta Italiana.

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“It was my first time in the Championship and I couldn't imagine all this. When they told me about third place and the sustainability award, I could hardly believe it: it was a real shock. At that moment I could not understand what was happening, I felt too many emotions at the same time. And the greatest satisfaction and joy was that of the Pizza for Change award. When I signed up for the competition, my goal was to present my "sustainable pizza" and win this prize. Nothing else interested me, because that trophy fully represented the work done and that which my partner Giulia Zanni and I believe in and try to commit to improving every day".

I still remember Giulia’s smile during the championship days in Parma, her bright eyes and above all a great enthusiasm in talking about her work and the pizza she brought to the competition. An enthusiasm that embodied passion, the conviction of the right choice and also the subtle fear of having done something wrong or, better, of not being understood in the choice of her path as a pizza chef... but also as an inhabitant of planet Earth.

Her pizza with the symbolic name "Terra-Terra" was meticulously studied, as she herself tells us:

“The idea of Terra-Terra was born by bringing together the two Giulias who are partners and friends, our love for the land, the passion we have for nature.

That's why we wanted an entirely organic pizza, which uses only organic products or from Slow Food Presidia, such as Bagoss, a cheese produced by a few cheesemakers in Bagolino, not far from my house. We chose an organic flour, ground 15 days before, to have aroma and fragrance, seasonal garden cress and asparagus, toasted almonds and always organic honey; I also got the milk for the fondue from an organic farm in my area. And, the icing on the cake, I used my own oil from olives I picked myself. For the presentation dish we also decided to promote a local craftsman, Clay Lab, who created an ad hoc dish for our pizza.”

BY GIUSY FERRAINA

The choice of products was then followed by days of testing the dough, assembling the ingredients, balancing the flavours and obviously the tastings. Every detail studied with meticulousness to reach the only goal: to win the Pizza for Change award and demonstrate that a sustainable pizza can be made, that a pizza like this exists and wants and must be the pizza of the future. Giulia is a daughter of art: her father has always made pizza and he was the teacher of his "little girl", who literally grew up among sacks of flour and balls of dough. At first it was a game; then, as soon as she could, she began to spread the pizza behind the counter and experiment. And, as history teaches us, the students surpass the masters. So, Giulia has a very clear picture of what she wants despite being so young: to use organic and quality products, those of small producers, those that you fall in love with when you taste them because their flavour explodes in your mouth; she wants a healthy, seasonal pizza truly full of flavour. In a nutshell, she wants a sustainable pizza, where this overused adjective means a pizza that respects the environment and nature and that conveys to those who eat it what goodness is. And every day she is committed to looking for new things, making new combinations and thinking up new recipes to enrich her line of special pizzas, which are written on the blackboard in the dining room, while she leaves the task of making the classic pizzas to her father. For her young age, Giulia Vicini is the example of a generation attentive to environmental values, the ecosystem, healthy and good food and with her "championship adventure" she is telling us that the path to sustainability in pizzerias and in catering can be undertaken.

"Absolutely - she tells us with conviction - but it is not a simple thing: it requires commitment to first of all change one's life and consumption habits, in what we choose to buy and eat and then being able to apply them in the kitchen and knowing how to pass them on to others. It sometimes happens that my peers jokingly make fun of me: for them I am the pizza maker - peasant. Then, when they eat my pizza, they are amazed by the flavour, the real taste, the quality I seek and they understand the meaning of my life choices. My pizza speaks for me, it is an ambassador of my philosophy”.

GIUSY FERRAINA

There is a strong bond between Giulia and pizza, an almost symbiotic relationship.

“For me, pizza is home, everyday life. It's the thing I know how to do and perhaps the only thing I really know how to do, it's something that belongs to me and gives me security, I could hardly live without it. In the future - the distant future - I would like to make pizza with all ingredients produced on my farm; for the near future I think this is the real quality pizza: a genuine pizza that uses only good and right products”.

INGREDIENTS:

Type 1 and type 2 flour of ancient grains

Bagoss 24 months

Organic milk

Organic asparagus

Organic garden cress

Gooseberry jam

Almonds

Parmesan Cheese

Olive oil

Organic chestnut honey

Turmeric

Beetroot juice