Raffaele Barresi, a young pastry chef from Pasticceria Capparelli in Naples, won the second edition of the "San Gennaro? A Sweet for San Gennaro" contest, which took place in Naples at the Terrazza Angiò of the Renaissance Naples Hotel Mediterraneo. “Stai Sciolto”, this is the name of the dessert created by Barresi, is a sponge cake with the scent of Sorrento lemons, made with a mix of Caputo 00 flour, almond flour and hazelnut flour and in which the elements that refer to the blood of the Saint are represented by a strawberry jam and a strawberry-flavored chocolate glaze, which will be on sale from September 19, when throughout Naples, but also throughout the world, where there are 25 million faithful, the Saint will be honored. But the advice that comes from the entire jury, made up of high-profile names such as master pastry chefs Luigi Biasetto, Gino Fabbri and Salvatore Gabbiano, together with Antimo Caputo, CEO of Mulino Caputo; Massimo Manelli, CEO of Snaidero and Gianni Simioli, radio journalist and creator of San Gennaro Day, is to take a tasting tour of all the pastry shops that participated in the contest. “A very high level of proposals,” declared the judges, “in which technical expertise went hand in hand with aesthetic, historical and iconographic research.” Mario Di Costanzo, of Di Costanzo Patisserie, who made use of the vast knowledge and passion of Francesco Andoli, owner of the Januarius restaurant, entirely dedicated to San Gennaro and located in front of the Cathedral of Naples, presented “San Genna', Futtutenne”, a chocolate sponge cake, with cream and raspberry confit (in reference to the miracle of the liquefaction of blood), Vesuvius pellecchiella apricot jelly and a touch of Calabria DOP licorice, to recall the origins of San Gennaro, probably from a hamlet of Vibo Valentia. To taste the dessert of Antonio Costagliola, another very young and passionate participant, you will have to go to Capri, to the restaurant of a fantastic five-star hotel: the Monzu' of the Hotel Punta Tragara, where his "Le Monzu' cake", a cake with Ligurian basil, cream of raspberries and candied Agrimontana lemon, will rightfully enter the dessert menu. The tour continues along the Sorrento Peninsula: in Castellammare di Stabia, in the pastry shop “Gran Caffe' Napoli 1850”, the pastry chef Angelo Maria Tramontano has created “Anima”: a shortcrust pastry base with semifreddo flavored with Neapolitan pasticciotto, enriched with a heart of black cherries branded Agrimontana, presented in a suggestive single portion that reproduces the stylised image of San Gennaro. The second stop on the coast will be in Sant'Agata sui due Golfi, where Giuseppe Esposito of the Roxy Bar, offers “Januarius: Faith and Miracle”, an almond shortcrust pastry, inspired by the shape of the Saint's mitre, filled with Massese lemon cream, Agrimontana lemon puree and strawberry jelly. Ciro Scogliamillo, known to most as Poppella, with his historic pastry shop in the heart of Sanità, a stone's throw from the catacombs of San Gennaro, has created “Le Dolcezze di San Gennaro”, a cream puff filled with ricotta cream and a heart of Monte Somma cherries. To taste the cake created by the French-American pastry chef, Michael Roper, you will have to go to Scapoli, in Molise, and wait for the opening of his new restaurant. Roper created a caciocavallo-shaped dessert, a tribute to the Southern gastronomic tradition, topped with a red cross and filled with ricotta, acacia honey and Vesuvius tomatoes. For Antimo Caputo this competition “represented an important opportunity for comparison, stimulating studies and insights that guaranteed very interesting results”. During the award ceremony, visibly moved, Raffaele Barresi declared that he wanted to donate his prize money to the Association “Il Nodo”, which protects people who need palliative care and pain therapy, and which works in synergy with Dr. Vincenzo Montrone, from the oncology department of Cardarelli. The third edition of the contest is already scheduled for early July next year.
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