Making Wilden | Alfio Ghezzi

Revolutionizing the way we live starting from simple things. Passion is what moves even the smallest cultural act. A concept made real by the respect for nature that drives projects and producers close to Wilden.herbals. The common thread that binds them is the desire to see the world with renewed eyes. Let’s find out more about their story.

Alfio Ghezzi is an artist, in the true sense of the term. His story with art begins in 2019, when he opens a restaurant inside the MART museum in Rovereto. SENSO has nothing in common with a classical interpretation of a restaurant. Those who have been there know that the MART is not just a museum, it is a magical place immersed in a geography far from the clamor of the limelight, a place that evokes and inspires Nordic thoughts and memories. Nordic is also the spirit of chef Alfio Ghezzi who offers a double strictly local menu at SENSO, with a surprise: a ‘reduced’ version of the menu, inspired by the current exhibition of the Trentino museum. If it is true that food is art, bringing it inside a museum is the most natural completion to obtain a true masterpiece. We interviewed chef Alfio Ghezzi and this is his story.

Alfio Ghezzi in a nutshell: tell us more about your vision.

I believe that well-being is an extraordinary combination of simplicity, beauty and history of a place like our restaurant inside the Museum. Here we want to bring life to our ideas because here we have established our foundations. Everything we need is enclosed in these spaces and in the landscapes that surround us, which are indispensable to give birth to what we want to offer our guests.

The cuisine we do is what we like to call La Cucina del Senso created to offer and enhance the best possible quality. We consciously observe the seasons, we are committed to making raw materials travel as little as possible, all the ingredients are Italian apart from spices, chocolate, coffee, stockfish and smoked herring; we prefer local ingredients, coming from farms that work the land in a conscious way.
We have the same consideration for drinks: we mainly serve wines from artisan winemakers, local beers, infusions, juices of our own production and fermented beverages such as kombucha and kefir.
We share the mission of making our guests live the best possible experience and we put our heart into it because this is what we like to do.

Plants and Nature: an anecdote from your life/profession.

I was born and have lived most of my life in the mountains. Since I was a child I often went to the mountains for walks, to make wood or to collect wild mushrooms and herbs with my grandmother. The first thing she taught me was to recognize the oxalis acetosella. She would make me pick it in bundles of five and then eat it. She taught me to hold them by the stem and eat the leaves, as if it were a refreshing and thirst-quenching snack.  
Now you can often find the oxalis, and other wild herbs, in our dishes.

How did you find out about Wilden.herbals?

I came across Wilden.herbals through a mutual friend, Andrea Paternoster, a nomadic beekeeper, a person capable of going beyond the most obvious things, and a fraternal friend (click here to read the interview). One evening he came to visit us at the restaurant with Nicola. [ndr. Robecchi, one of Wilden’s founders].

What affinity do you see between your way of cooking and infusions?

Ours is a simple way of cooking, where the ingredients and aromas are easily recognizable, which means being essential, trying to get the most out of the taste of the product and I believe this is the same principle for the infusions.

When do you feel closer to the philosophy of the “healthy and wild”?

Everything that has not been “touched” by man is wild and this guarantees an uncontaminated and pure environment. I feel healthy and wild when I go back to experience the little known mountain of my valleys.

Photo © 2021 Alfio Ghezzi
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