Nino Bergese

Giacomo Bergese was born in Saluzzo in 1904 and became a chef at the tender age of 13. It was in 1917 that he entered the home of Count Bonvicino as a gardener’s assistant, but he soon left that job to work alongside the count’s chef, Giovanni Bastone, who would later become the Agnelli family chef. During this period he kept a diary in which he noted the recipes he was able to extract from the maestro. He would call the diary his “only treasure”. At the age of 16 he was already a sous chef at the home of Count Costa Carrù della Trinità, where he served dinners to famous guests such as the Italian royal family, King Fuad of Egypt, the Duke of Aosta and the Duke of Genoa. In 1926, when he was only 22, he was the head chef for the Wild family of cotton manufacturers. He enjoyed a spectacular career but never took a day off, not even for his wedding or the birth of his daughter. In the same year he began to work for Count Alborio Mella di Sant'Elia, the master of ceremonies for the House of Savoy. It was at Villa Crocetta, between Intra and Pallanza, the summer residence of the master of ceremonies, that Bergese prepared a lunch for the twenty-second birthday of Umberto of Savoy on 15 September. The lunch was a great success; Bergese made a Florentine layered chocolate gateau that the prince asked him to make again and again for three days in a row. It earned him a 500 lire prize and a pair of silver cufflinks bearing the royal crest. From then on he worked for a series of aristocratic families and well-to-do households, including the Medici del Vascello and Baldi marquises. After the war Bergese left the world of the nobility behind and moved to Genoa where he opened the La Santa restaurant in vico Indoratori, an ancient alley in the old city centre. He was both the owner and chef of the restaurant, which earned two Michelin stars – the most awarded to any restaurant in Italy at the time. It became a destination for aficionados of fine cuisine and attracted celebrities from the worlds of cinema, culture, art and entertainment, as well as Kings Costantino of Greece and Michele of Romania. Bergese was persuaded by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli to compile 513 of his most celebrated recipes in the book "Mangiare da re" (Eat like a King). When his restaurant closed, Bergese decided to retire but upon the insistence of Gianluigi Morini, owner of San Domenico in Imola, he returned to the kitchen once more in the Romagna restaurant. It was not easy to persuade Bergese to start again; he considered himself in retirement and at first he rejected the offer. But on Veronelli’s advice, Morini continued to pester Bergese until he agreed. It was equally difficult persuading him to stay. The great chef’s insecurity was based on the unpredictability of the number of diners to be served in a restaurant, as he confided to Morini. Yet the latter had the good sense to give him complete free rein to express himself as he wished in the kitchen. Bergese died in Genoa in 1977. The school he founded in Savona remains a benchmark for experts all over the world.