Between legendary chefs and symbolic foods of Made in Italy, “Identità Milano” is increasingly international

An internationally renowned chef like Ferran Adrià (founder of elBulli, a restaurant that has had a disruptive influence on world cuisine), great exponents of Italian catering such as Massimo Bottura, Antonino Cannavacciuolo, Davide Oldani, Niko Romito, Mauro Colagreco, Carlo Cracco, Enrico Cerea, Massimiliano Alajmo, Corrado Assenza, Norbert Niederkofler, Davide Scabin, Giancarlo Perbellini, Andrea Berton, Antonia Klugmann and many others, excellences of food made in Italy such as Parmigiano Reggiano, territories rich in gastronomic deposits such as Calabria, but also wine brands, such as the “triumvirate” of Franciacorta (Ca’ del Bosco, Contadi Castaldi and Berlucchi), the new trends in mixology with the barman of the coolest clubs on the planet (from Mexico City to Hong Kong), the pizza chefs that the world envies us, such as Franco Pepe, the previews on wine tourism and the hospitality of the future, peasant cuisine and organic, as well as an app (“Bollicine del Mondo”) that collects the best of international sparkling wines, and much more: all this is “Identità Milano” - founded by Paolo Marchi and Claudio Ceroni, 20th edition - which is increasingly confirming itself as an event of international caliber. Among world-famous protagonists and a succession of events (70 speakers, 89 masterclasses and 12 thematic insights), numerous food for thought, starting from the theme 2025, “Future Identity, twenty years of new ideas in the kitchen”, a reminder of the need to adapt to constantly changing scenarios. WineNews - one of the media partners of the event - has intercepted the most interesting ideas, with videos (which will be online in the next few days) dedicated to the future of cooking and interviews with chefs and gastronomes.
“Identità Milano” - which this year took place at the Allianz MiCo - was the first haute cuisine congress in Italy, and today it has expanded to include thematic clusters that explore the increasingly close link between food and wine, hospitality and business. In addition to the main stage, which hosted the most authoritative voices in the sector, there were numerous thematic insights, dedicated to Identità di Formaggio, Identità di Pizza, Identità di Pasta, Identità di Lievitati, Identità Inclusive, Golosi di Identità, Identità Vegetali, Identità di Pesce e Identità di Farina, in addition to new features such as the Salone del Vino e Bollicine, Bollicine del Mondo (edition no. 4), Bar Experience and the Hospitality Cluster. In the foreground, at “Identità Milano”, there were naturally the chefs: starting with Ferran Adrià, the chef who has most influenced the destiny of global haute cuisine in the last 30 years and who, from the stage, recounted the evolution of the creative thinking behind elBulli. Adrià stressed that “it is more urgent than ever to talk about economics because there is no business more difficult than that of catering. Pleasure is fine but you need to have an economic vision. This is an urgent paradigm shift.” The future of creative haute cuisine for the chef-patron of elBulli? “Minimalist. And we worked on this concept (in an “ennalogue”, a decalogue with one less rule). Minimalism is cooking with few elements, exercising open creativity on them”. In addition to him, other big names on the international scene took to the stage, such as Andrés Torres, Casa Nova in Barcelona, founder of Global Humanitaria and winner of the Basque Culinary World Prize 2024, and Joxe Mari Aizega, director of the Basque Culinary Center in Donostia. But the great names of Italian cuisine could not be missed, who brought their experiences and reflections to the stage: among the many Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana), Antonino Cannavacciuolo (Villa Crespi), Davide Oldani (D’O), Niko Romito (Reale), Mauro Colagreco (Mirazur), Carlo Cracco (Da Cracco in Galleria), Enrico Cerea (Da Vittorio), Massimiliano Alajmo (Le Calandre), Corrado Assenza (Caffè Sicilia), Davide Scabin (Carignano), Giancarlo Perbellini (Casa Perbellini - 12 Apostoli), Norbert Niederkofler (Atelier Moessmer), Andrea Berton (Ristorante Berton), Antonia Klugmann (L’Argine a Vencò), and many others. The gastronomes of the future, with over 30 comments and interviews, will be at the centre of the WineNews videos (online in the next few days): Food unites us all, and a dish can tell the story of the quality of the raw materials, the connection with the territories, and Italian craftsmanship. But the kitchen also intercepts current trends, such as the growing attention to healthy eating and the choice of sustainable products. A sustainability that, by now, is no longer just environmental, but also social and cultural. And through the food and wine excellences made in Italy, what we export to the world is the Italian culture of good food that is born in the territories, that the whole world loves and that makes us unique. A table where with food there has always been wine, and vice versa. And this is what cuisine, wine, territories, producers, chefs, gastronomes and communication must focus on again, making good food, and the triad food-wine-territories, a “medium” to tell the world about Italy (and a job that WineNews has been carrying out for a quarter of a century, ed.). Among the great protagonists of “Identità Milano” is also Parmigiano Reggiano, one of the symbols of food made in Italy in the world: an Italian excellence that increasingly, in the future, will have to focus on dialogue with the world of catering, a key channel to enter the consumption rituals, at home and out, of a young audience of foodies. Three days of lunches and tastings led by the Consortium - starting with the opening of a special Parmigiano Reggiano wheel that is over 20 years old - and the awareness that “catering plays a fundamental role in making the instinctive nature of Parmigiano Reggiano known in Italy and around the world” explained the president of the Consortium, Nicola Bertinelli. In 2024, over 84,500 tons were marketed in Italy, but only 7% of these in the Ho.Re.Ca channel. Chefs are the most important ambassadors of Parmigiano Reggiano, whose turnover (between direct and induced economy) is worth 3 billion euros, includes over 300 companies and over 50,000 employees. "What can we do to make catering a driving force? Let's put Parmigiano Reggiano at the center of the plate and have the other ingredients rotate around it to enhance it. Let's make it the hero of the dish": said Bertinelli. And if the watchwords of the future will be maturation, breeds and great reserves, Parmigiano Reggiano was at the centre of the dinner prepared by four great starred chefs - Riccardo Gaspari (San Brite in Cortina d'Ampezzo), Paolo Griffa (at Caffè Nazionale in Aosta), Fabio Abbattista (Abba - Milan), Andrea Antonini (Imago at Hassler Hotel in Rome) - who proposed a journey through consistencies, maturations and new combinations of one of the most representative cheeses of the great Italian dairy tradition. The world of wine also participated in “Identità Milano”, in particular that of sparkling wines, the “Franciacorta triumvirate”, namely Ca’ del Bosco, Contadi Castaldi and Berlucchi, excellent brands of Italian winemaking. Ca’ del Bosco, a renowned Franciacorta brand, has “twinned” with Calvisius, a Brescian excellence famous throughout the world for its “black gold”, with culinary combinations designed by chef Stefano Cerveni to enhance the winery’s labels together with caviar. Instead, the Franciacorta brand Contadi Castaldi has joined forces with the new Codanera salmon and the Cantabrian Sea Reserva anchovies, in a pairing that is all about taste. Berlucchi Franciacorta, one of the main sponsors of the event, proposed a rich program of appointments with starred chefs - from Andrea Aprea (Ristorante Andrea Aprea) to Antonia Klugman (Ristorante L’Argine a Vencò) and Carlo Cracco - and well-known sommeliers. On the occasion of the delivery of the Territory Identity Award to the Francescana Family and Massimo Bottura, Cristina Ziliani of Berlucchi announced a new feature for the 2026 edition of the Congress: the Territory Identity Laboratory. Inspired by the Award (a recognition that Berlucchi has awarded for years to Italian chefs who embody the value of authenticity and the bond with their land), the Laboratory aims to explore and celebrate stories that, like Berlucchi’s, have left their mark. Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Docg, the most popular Italian sparkling wine in the world, could not be missed, with a conference dedicated to the future and the challenge of time. Then on stage Calabria, the host region of the 2025 Congress, led by one of the best and youngest Italian chefs, Caterina Ceraudo (Ristorante Dattilo): a territory with extraordinary biodiversity and a thousand-year-old gastronomic culture, where sea and mountains meet, giving life to an authentic cuisine rich in nuances. e. Chefs and producers from Calabria have described a land that is rewriting its gastronomic identity with vision and innovation. The Bar Experience is a major new feature, representing the evolution of Identità Cocktail, expanding its format and transforming it into an immersive area: an innovative setup, designed to enhance the art of mixology through an engaging experience, where visitors were able to explore the new frontiers of mixed drinks, including tastings, meetings and sensory journeys to discover techniques, ingredients and trends, with internationally renowned bars and bartenders as protagonists, including leading names from “The World’s 50 Best Bars”, confirming the centrality of mixology in the contemporary panorama. From Handshake (Mexico), no. 1 The World’s 50 Best Bars 2024) to Penicillin (Hong Kong). Wine tourism also played a leading role, with a talk that hosted, among others, Roberta Garibaldi, president of the Italian Association of Food and Wine Tourism and university professor, who - in addition to citing WineNews as one of the main players in the communication of wine and wine tourism in Italy - illustrated the “Report on food and wine tourism”, conceived by her and created by Aite-Associazione Italiana Turismo Enogastronomico. There are 14.5 million potential food tourists who organize a trip in search of food, wine, oil and all the other typical agri-food products of the Italian territory. Opening the list of the most sought-after products and the one that attracts the most tourists is wine (with 38.1% of preferences), it is considered the most representative product of Italy in the agri-food sector. In the national collective imagination, they are followed by the food and wine icons of the Bel Paese, such as extra virgin olive oil (24%), pizza (22%), pasta (15%) and cheeses (11%). But, at “Identità Milano”, we talked about organic and healthy lifestyles, also in relation to eating disorders, agriculture and tourism and the opportunity that the combination represents for the traveler looking for authentic and conscious experiences, as well as for the development of communities in the internal areas of the country. At the conference “Country cuisine and signature cuisine together for Made in Italy” the memorandum of understanding between Campagna Amica, Terranostra and Identità Golose was also signed, a strategic agreement aimed at strengthening the collaboration between farmer-chefs and starred chefs to promote and enhance the excellence of local Italian products. “Peasant cuisine and signature cuisine share a common goal: to enhance the authentic flavors of our land and defend the excellence of Made in Italy,” emphasized Dominga Cotarella, president of Terranostra. “Together, we can create a sustainable development model that gives value to our local production and Italian gastronomic culture. At the same time, this becomes a tool to protect biodiversity and promote greater awareness among consumers, especially the younger ones, promoting healthy foods and correct lifestyles.” The main objectives of the protocol include supporting the quality and authenticity of raw materials through direct contact between farmers and restaurateurs; protecting Italian gastronomic traditions, ensuring respect for seasonality and production techniques handed down over time; innovation in tradition, combining the knowledge of peasant cuisine with the creativity of gourmet cuisine to offer new culinary experiences without losing Italian identity; promoting Made in Italy at an international level; the campaign for origin labeling and raising awareness against the consumption of ultra-formulated foods. From the “Identità Milano 2025” stage, there will also be a vernissage for the “Bollicine del Mondo” Guide, the app dedicated to the best international sparkling wine production, born from the need to create a new tool capable of taking the reader on a journey through a rather extensive mapping of sparkling wines, bringing them to the knowledge of a history, a tradition, a generational transition, a grape variety and a destination to discover. The 2025 edition of Identità Milano was also enriched by the support of a network of media partners who share the commitment to telling the story of the evolution of gastronomy, mixology, wine and hospitality: in addition to WineNews, there were TGcom24, La Cucina Italiana, Il Gusto, Food & Wine Italia, Travel+Leisure Italia, Italia Squisita, Fine Dining Lovers, Reporter Gourmet, Coqtail, Cook.inc, James Magazine and Spirito di Vino.