“With the best recipe, even the simplest “spaghetti with tomato” could become a delicacy”. Agostino Iacobucci is 35 years old, he comes from Castellammare di Stabia ( Naples ) and works at the Michelin-rated restaurant “I Portici” di Bologna

What got you into cooking?

“First of all, i have to thank my cathering school and the beautiful experiences i had at the restaurants in Naples. There started my career as a chef. I realised that a chef could have had a chance to get better; they were sort of the wave of the future. For this reason i decided to keep up with the times, i learnt a very imoportant term about cooking: “gourmet”. I realised that cooking was an art form. I met a lot of important chef in Campania such as Don Alfonso, but thanks to Taverna 18 and Michele De Leo I got my first Michelin Star in Naples. For me, it was the turning point of my life”.

Then, he moved from Naples to Bologna…

“Yes, I started working at the restaurant of a four star and luxury hotel(with 88 rooms and 2 suites) “I Portici” in Bologna, in Via Indipendenza. It was built in a 19th-century theatre, with an old 14th-century ice-house, our wine cellar today. We set up a high quality restaurant, and we got the Michelin star”.

Moreover, “I Portici” is costantly evolving..

“Yes, sure. The restaurant is open from Tuesday to Saturday night, we get a big room to let you party with your friends and a bistrot. However, the big news is our “Tortellino’s workshop” and the “Take-Away”. My culinary tradition stems where I am from. We was studying the processing of phyllo dough when we made a very good product for “Street Food”. We are working in an open kitchen, we cook and sell the best “tortellini”. Moreover, we have been thinking of starting a cooking school…”

What does the cooking mean to you?

First of all, the Creativity. I am still trying to get better, improving my technique, using the best quality products. In this way, the simplest dish could become “Gourmet”. One have only to choose the best products. Once one have these, it only remains to make it the most beautiful dish”.

Dario Sautto