This year to cook for the 500 guests of the traditional Gala dinner that will follow the opening show of the Scaligeri season on 7 December, there will be Daniel Canzian, chef and owner of the Daniel Restaurant in Milan. For the occasion, the chef has created a menu inspired by the work "Attila" and the passions of Giuseppe Verdi, drawing a geographic-culinary journey choosing seasonal ingredients and traditional preparations to be updated.

The work as an inspiration
The dishes were designed based on three main inspiring elements. Two of them directly concern the work and the two geographic paths it has inside: on one side the Adriatic, which goes from the Ottoman area from which the condottiere came to the Friuli lands of Aquileia, theater of the prologue of the work, with the sweet and sour flavors that recur in the menu; on the other side Rome and Lazio, where the rest of the drama takes place, with the flavors that become more savory, Mediterranean.
The third inspiring element is, finally, Giuseppe Verdi himself, to whom the references to the Parmesan gastronomic tradition and the Milanese risotto, which he loved a lot, are enriched with the special touch of the chef. "I wanted to think about the menu as a series of taste sensations able to tell the work and its author even at the table"Explains Daniel. "Naturally, the dramatic suggestion from which the story and the stage sequence are born have played a large part in the selection of ingredients and cooking methods that I have chosen to offer, but I have not neglected to "mention" the Verdian spirit. His style is therefore recalled by the simplicity of the dishes and their cleanliness: Verdi was not a chef, but a great gourmet, with an excellent palate capable of distinguishing the quality of the ingredients and the fullness of the flavors. A lover of good food whose work I decided to pay homage to dishes inspired by the places where the drama "Attila" is set and with an eye to the homeland of the famous composer and his passion: risotto with saffron. There could be no better opportunity to remember that Giuseppe Verdi did a great deal for Italian gastronomy, bringing the secrets with him on his every journey around the world. For example, we know that he was the one who minutely conveyed the Milanese risotto recipe to Camille Du Locle, impresario de l'Opéra Comique in Paris, and then to the French".

The menu, from the yellow risotto to the chocolate dessert
Gained gastronomically next to Maestro Gualtiero Marchesi for nine years, as Executive Chef of the Marchesi Group, Daniel Canzian is a magician of risotto and in fact proposes it as a first course, in reserve version and with flakes of panettone. In combination, Bellavista bubbles in the special Franciacorta label at La Scala Brut 2013 and Ferrarelle Platinum Edition.

PRELUDE
Broccoli mousse, purple cabbage and apples
Toc 'in braide Friulian
Panzerotto alla Romana with cheese and pepper
Anolino alla parmigiana in onion broth

ACT ONE
Risotto Gran Riserva Rooster with saffron and flakes of panettone

SECOND ACT
Veal cheek in Italian sauce with quince and pomegranate

GRAN FINALE WITH BRINDISI
The Amedei dark chocolate sphere with passion fruit sauce
Amedei meditation pralines
Coffee

THE WINES
Bellavista Franciacorta Teatro alla Scala Brut 2013
Petra Tuscany red Petra 2014
Bellavista Franciacorta Nectar Demi Sec
Ferrarelle and Natìa Platinum Edition

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