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Massimo Bottura is back on the scene with a new restaurant, Al Gatto Verde, which will officially open on 20 September, a new establishment located inside Casa Maria Luigia, the chef’s guesthouse in the Modenese countryside he opened together with Lara Gilmore in 2019.
Al Gatto Verde will be located in the courtyard of the Acetaia Maria Luigia, a space that opened its doors in December 2022 after careful renovation, and which today houses 1,400 barrels of traditional Modena balsamic vinegar, alongside contemporary art installations by Ingo Mauer, Kehinde Wiley and Olafur Eliasson.
In the kitchen will be Jessica Rosval, who has been the culinary director of Casa Maria Luigia since its opening. It will be a restaurant designed to minimise the impact on the environment, under the banner of sustainability and anti-waste: a perfect synthesis of ethics and aesthetics.
The new restaurant will be the natural evolution of Tòla Dòlza, the Sunday event at Casa Maria Luigia, dedicated to conviviality, fire and the smoky flavours of "non-barbecue". Everything will revolve around the wood-burning oven, the fire and what accompanies it (heat, smoke, grill), making the best Italian artisan ingredients the star of the show.
"Being contemporary means knowing everything and forgetting everything. The fusion of different culinary techniques with fire has created a unique non-barbecue,' says Bottura.
Al Gatto Verde at Casa Maria Luigia: the location
The location was conceived with sustainability in mind: while solar panels provide electricity, a zero-waste approach is applied for all other energy resources, with the aim of recycling and reusing every byproduct. The property's old stables have been renovated and transformed into the restaurant's kitchen and dining room, where materials such as wood, raffia and stone have been used, in shades of green and hay, reflecting the colours of the surrounding countryside. The reference to contemporary art is inevitable, with the works of the American conceptual artist Mike Bidlo, which play on the idea of "not", just like Bottura's "not barbecue", with the paintings "Not Pollock", "Not Stella" and "Not Warhol".
Furthermore, diners will be able admire multimedia creations such as Jack Pierson's "Fate" and Andy Warhol's "Cash Cow", as well as Franco Vaccari's "Fotomatic" series and Jackson Pollock's portraits curated by Gregory Greenfield-Sanders, which explore the themes of identity and authenticity. In the courtyard outside, there are sculptures by Sandro Chia, Mimmo Paladino, Gavin Turk and Jim Dine. Also interesting is the lighting of the space, which was designed by the well-known lighting designer from Piacenza, Davide Groppi, who also designed exclusively for the restaurant the "Post-Prandium" table lamps, which recall ladles in their shapes.
Bottura and Gilmore worked with interior designer Catia Baccolini on the design and choice of materials. The dining tables are handmade by Riva 1920, with an oak top, symbolising longevity, and a base in 10-year-aged black cedar, as a reference to Modena’s famous balsamic vinegar. The green chairs, with classic lines, are by Thonet. Morandi Interni. The project also features beautiful custom0-made wood panelling and cocktail bar. In the outdoor area, the dark green and yellow lacquered Porro tables echo the colours of the Acetaia, and are matched with rope chairs by Varaschin.
Al Gatto Verde at Casa Maria Luigia: the kitchen and the menu
"Our kitchen is surrounded by vineyards and fields and lit by fire. It is a magical place that escapes limiting definitions and allows our creativity to run free," says Rosval. The kitchen at Al Gatto Verde, which has been created with handcrafted green mosaic tiles, produced locally by Attica, has a Kronos stone floor, which features an innovative water filtering technique for saving rainwater through underground cisterns, developed in collaboration with Mapei.
There is a handcrafted grill that was made in Tuscany and a wood-burning oven made in Modena, while the invisible induction hob surfaces are by RAK Ceramics.
As for the team, alongside chef Rosval is Sous Chef Alessia Belladonna, in the kitchen brigade since 2021, while service is led by restaurant manager Maria Cristina Messori, former Maître of the social restaurant Roots (of which chef Rosval is also culinary director). In the dining room there are also Maître Denis Bretta, in the Francescana Family since 2012, and sommelier Valentina Bardini, who comes over from Casa Maria Luigia.
On the menu, you can find dishes that combine sustainability, research, fire, territorial tradition and international flair: they range from Agnello da Montreal a San Damaso to Cotechino Sangue di Drago and Pasta Arsa (here are the pictures).
The restaurant will be open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday evening, with service starting at 7.30 pm.
Agnello da Montreal a San Damaso
Cielo Terra Mare
Cotechino Sangue di Drago
Pasta Arsa
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