Enrico Bartolini opens a restaurant in Emilia Romagna. A luxury innwith fine dining kitchenin a historical building. All at Noceto, thirteen thousand souls fifteen minutes from Parma. «When almost six years ago I saw the spaces of what it is today Utini Palace in Noceto, and the redevelopment project, I was won over by it”, says Bartolini, at the helm of a galaxy of brands that includes over thirty locations around the world, including ten fine dining establishments in Italyawarded with thirteen Michelin stars (including the three-starred at the «Mudec» in Milan which bears his name).
The Palazzo Utini project
Once upon a time, among what are now the walls of Palazzo Utini, there were the tables and kitchens of «L’Aquila Romana», a restaurant that participated in writing the history of Italian cuisine in the 70s and 80s, and was a destination for famous people like Mina. «This is a really interesting area from a gastronomic point of view, there are exceptional producers and raw materials», says Bartolini. “We meet in the heart of the Food Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site… and then I must say that places like this represent a unique opportunity for a chef: that of creating a place that is a destination. Don’t get wrong, not that a restaurant in a big city isn’t, but in general it’s easier to reach, to approach. Signs like this, in small towns in the Italian provinces, they allow us to enhance the territory and those who work there. And they allow chefs to have a clientele that is often more attentive than in the cityguests who come there on a journey because they want to live the experience it offers”, he adds.
«The meeting with chef Enrico Bartolini took place in November 2016 at the presentation of the Michelin Guide at the Teatro Regio in Parma», he says Alessandro Utinipatron of this new gourmet opening and President of the Parma Ham Consortium since 2021. «In the following months we presented him with our ambitious project and thanks to mutual respect we decided to combine our respective skills to create something special in the panorama of Italian cuisine and hotel industry. We would like to create in Noceto an oasis of taste and hospitality of five-star excellence linked to the authority of a chef like Bartolini and to the name of our family which for generations has handed down important values linked to the quality and traditions that have made it famous these lands”
Enrico Bartolini’s new restaurant
The gourmet restaurant which will officially open on May 8th, whose interiors were designed by designer Stefano Guidottia long-time collaborator of Enrico Bartolini, is located on the first floor of the historic building, which it also houses a bistro and 15 rooms and suites. The kitchen was entrusted to Roberto Monopolia chef born in 1984, of Apulian origin, who a few years ago won the Michelin star at «Villa Grey» in Forte dei Marmi, while in the dining room there will be Alessandra Veronesiwho worked for a long time at Mudec.
«We will propose a creative, elegant cuisine that puts vegetables at the centre and is made with local products: such as the Po oyster, served with an acidified jus, leek oil and white asparagus. Or, again, the Parmesan gnocchi, made without eggs or potatoes, served in a hot soup of peas, horseradish and marjoram”, says Monopoli. You can order à la carte or rely on one of the two tasting menus: eight courses for the first, seven for the second. «The latter will be totally dark and will offer new and different dishes every day».
