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August /September 202 2 VIII MAGAZINE wholesomeness that are even superior to fresh products. Today’s consumer has such enhanced knowledge, experience and access to information that they do not need a protective asterisk to be assured of their consumption’. __________________________________ AT PAGE 24 CHEF’S FACES Naturally... Horto by Gianluca Donadini Osvaldo Bosetti and Diego Panizza are the co-founders of a cultural gastronomic project that opened its doors in Milan during the hot Lombard summer. At the strategic and organisational direction of the kitchen is the three-starred chef Norbert Niederkofler, supported in day-to-day management by the talented Executive Chef Alberto Toè . Horto’s offer embraces breakfast on the terrace, lunch at the Bistrot Sole, an aperitif over the rooftops of Milan and fine dining in the evening for dinner. The design of Horto’s landscape are by virtuous hands: Raffaella Colombo , Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano and Luisa Collina , Dean of the School of Design at the Politecnico. The spaces are by Genius Loci Architettura while the creative direction is by Motel409. We find out more in our meeting with Alberto Toè, who boasts experience with Martin Berasategui , Andreas Caminada , Nuno Mendes , Pietro Leeman , Norbert Niederkofler and at Le Cementine, within H-FARM, a technology, marketing and education company, where he was chef and manager. I’m at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan when Horto enters my life for the first time. Gabriele Principato , Norbert Niederkofler , Alberto Toé and Stefano Ferraro talk about it with the lightness due to things that are suspended, fragile and mild,, in the kermesse of Cibo a Regola d’Arte 2022. The star of the cooking show organised by Cook - Corriere della Sera is sturgeon. Alberto arranges the wild herbs by caressing them on the plates. Then he arranges the crispy skin as if it were vaporous organza. It is a measured play of hands that draw, architect, sculpt, transform and give shape. They are instruments of artifice that lay bare. They reveal more than words. “I like sturgeon. And I like that Horto has found a home in The Medelan, a complex with retail, office and leisure functions that brings together Palazzo Broggi, the connected Magazzini Contratti and the block in Via Santa Margherita designed by Giovanni Muzio. They are the beautiful and elegant face of Piazza Cordusio, the ancient Lombard Curia Ducis, once a strategic financial centre and now the social and commercial heart of Milan. ON THE ROOFTOP OF PALAZZO BROGGI We are on the rooftop of the Broggi palace, a 500 square metre terrace complemented by a rational interior with foyer, lounge bar, bistro and open kitchen. Fine dining is in the most intimate area where the bioclimatic and biodegradable rice husk plaster and the geometric parquet flooring made of planks from ancient vinegar cellars combine with the sustainability standards of The Medelan, an eco-friendly complex in the process of obtaining Leed Platinum certification and attentive to the psychophysical well-being of those who live in its spaces. Elevated terraces, courtyards and green areas are by Genius Loci Architettura and create an open and shared space that encourages the exchange of ideas and collective participation1 according to principles of lightness. The views and seating in the dehors are immersed in the spontaneous vegetation of a field and look out over glimpses of the Galleria and the Duomo. NATURAL ISSUES On turquoise summer evenings I’ll go along paths, prickled by wheat, trampling fine grass. I’ll feel, dreamy, that coolness at my feet, And let the wind flood my bare head [...]. Who better to sum up my meeting with Alberto Toè, Executive Chef of Horto, than Rimbaud. There is in Alberto a truth ‘What is beautiful must also be essential. The clean line, the right shape delineates the absence of excess. There is a mathematical concept behind beauty. You cannot waste anything if you want to be beautiful. The quest for sustainability is directed in a flow of beauty’.