Enrico Marmo *
Born in 1987 in Canelli - in the province of Asti, in Monferrato, a geographical area of Piedmont – EnricoMarmo is the executive chef of Balzi Rossi, 1 Michelin star restaurant in Ventimiglia, in the Ligurian province of Imperia, on the border with France.
Grown up with the will to become a chef, he only manages to follow his dreams after high school, when he starts working in restaurants and trattorias in Monferrato, for three years, a period in which he implements his own basics of traditional cuisine, also consolidated thanks to an intensive course followed at the Hotel Management Institute of Agliano, in the province of Asti, in Monferrato. Then, the stimulus arrives and the time to take a leap forward, which he achieves thanks to the cooking course he attended in 2009/10 at ALMA in Colorno,
- in the province of Parma, in Emilia-Romagna - one of the national institutes of reference, for students who want to train in the world of gastronomy.
An internship at the 1 Michelin Star restaurant Gellius Oderzo, where the chef is Alessandro Breda, divides Enrico from a year under the orders of Matteo Baronetto in the 2 Michelin Star Ristorante Cracco in Milan, an experience he manages to gain thanks to the second position out of sixty in the ALMA class. In the Milanese gastronomic destination, he takes on the role of commis in the pastry area for four months, before putting on that of head of the appetizers.
Enrico is a material person, who loves being in contact with ingredients and flame cooking, the reason why he proposes himself to Davide Palluda, chef of the All'Enoteca, 1 Michelin star restaurant in Canale, in the province of
Cuneo, in the Langhe. It is 2011 and here he starts working alongside the sous chef who, after six months, he will replace for five years, until March 2016.
Balzi Rossi calls Davide Palluda to ask for the contact of a young executive chef, able to take charge of the kitchen of the restaurant located in Ventimiglia (IM). Davide replies "Enrico Marmo" and so, at just 27 years old, the boy from Canelli goes in the kitchen of a gastronomic place that has made the history of Western Liguria, on the border with France, also managing to conquer the 2 Stars Michelin in the recent past. In April 2016, a life window opens that will give him many satisfactions. “I knew it would be a challenge, in a different region and in an iconic place of Ligurian restaurants 2 ”.
A year later it is already time to get on the main stages of the Italian critics, to collect some of the most coveted awards assigned in the sector. The entry in the Michelin Guide with the Michelin Plate, a guide where the restaurant had been missing for a decade, and the Top of Tomorrow award for the Northwest area assigned by Italian Touring Club guide crown a year, that of 2017, which will be paired with 2018.
In this last year, the chef receives the special prize "Animante Terra & Ambiente 2019" from Gambero Rosso and Barone Pizzini, for "the strong link with the territory, the immediacy and genuineness of a cuisine in which attention to the raw material used is at the highest levels". In January 2019, Enrico Marmo left the restaurant to land on new shores, first as executive chef in the gastronomic restaurant of the 5-star resort Castel Monastero in Castelnuovo Berardenga in the province of Siena - in Tuscany, for a year - and then at the Osteria Arborina - in La Morra, in the Langhe - as executive chef of the 1 Michelin Star gastronomic restaurant and of the bistrot, after the departure of the chef Andrea Ribaldone. “I accepted the proposal I received, because it was a beautiful opportunity in the heart of the Langhe and, among my priorities, there was the return to the area where I grew up”. The ominous pandemic prevents him and his collaborators from enjoying this experience to the fullest, which began right at the stroke of the first wave, in March 2020. Thereopening in May corrects the one-year shot, which ends with good news, the confirmation of the Michelin Star, obtained again in the following year, 2021.
At that point, Enrico Marmo receives a call from a restaurant, which offers him a comeback in style. It is the Balzi Rossi restaurant and, on the phone, the voice is that of the daughter of the cook who inaugurated the restaurant in 1982: Giuseppina Beglia, historical memory and custodian of the place.
Enrico decides to accept, as executive chef, the call of the gastronomic destination which is now managed by a new owner, and which is now preparing to celebrate its 40th birthday, with a reopening that comes after a two-year hiatus. “I am certainly more aware of my means and of those I have at my disposal, since I know the two brigades very well, both the waiting staff’s and the kitchen’s, having worked with both at the Osteria Arborina”. The objectives set are very high, as is the desire to do well 3 in a context, Liguria, which is the ideal habitat for Enrico, a lover of nature and cycling. In November 2022, the Balzi Rossi restaurant receives 1 Michelin Star, exactly forty years after its opening.