"In Sesto San Giovanni?", I ask surprised.

'Yes, in Sesto San Giovanni. This way, we enhance and give colour to the suburbs of Milan too, which are alive and deserve to be in the spotlight,' he replies. Hurray, hurray. Riccardo Villani and his partner Giulia give a fine lesson in courage and inclusion. She’s from Arezzo; he’s from Milan. 'We both trained as pastry chefs. We met in Berlin,' points out Riccardo.

Then? The return home and the opening of a take-away pizza shop in Cortona. But the road inevitably leads them back north. Et voilà La Rita, in Via Dante Alighieri (the great Florentine poet, as chance would have it).

‘We wanted to name it La Rita, a proper name, with the article in front, as commonly used in Milan. But the name also recalls pizza Margherita and Santa Margherita, our previous sign. La Rita is us: Giulia and I. It is the palette on which to write. It is the completion of our project.’

The circle is closed. So is that of the pizza: round and fragrant, the child of a highly (75%) hydrated dough and of Petra 0102 HP flour, with partially sprouted soft wheat.

‘At Identità Milano I wanted to bring a white pizza, Rösti di patate. It features pecorino, fiordilatte and provola cheese from Agerola, casera, Cinta Senese bacon, rosemary, browned onions and potatoes in cream and crispy chips.’ A partly Lombard, partly Tuscan comfort food. As it should be. Because memory and roots cannot be erased. Quite the contrary.

And the land of Messer Dante often returns in Riccardo's pizzas. Like in the Briciole, a real cult, almost as a reminder of the sauce intended for pici: smoked provola cheese, anchovies from Cetara, pecorino cheese, toasted bread crumbs with garlic and herbs. And then? There is Tuscan raw ham from wild pigs that meets chicory fried in a pan, buffalo mozzarella and orange-flavoured oil; there is cinta lard and there is also cured cinta sausage, which embraces tomato sauce from Casa Marrazzo, ricotta, fiordilatte agerolese, pecorino and basil.

'In my rare free moments, I like to go out and try new places. To look around and understand what the market offers. And I love video games. Years ago I even entered competitions. I'm a video game nerd. And I'm also a pizza nerd.’

Cristina Viggè
source: https://www.identitagolose.it/ermes/newsletter/?id=624

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