When September comes to Venice, the city changes pace. There’s the Venice International Film Festival, the Regata Storica, and a steady stream of people arriving for the most anticipated events of the year. It is right in this period that the tenth edition of Extraordinary Food & Wine opens, on Sunday 19 and Monday 20 September 2027. The event goes by “EFAW2027“, and behind it, as always, is Fausto Brozzi.
Where people once gambled
The venue has a story of its own. The event takes over the Sala del Ridotto in Palazzo Dandolo, inside the Hotel Monaco & Gran Canal, a five-star hotel overlooking the Grand Canal between the Church of La Salute and St Mark’s Square. This is where the world’s first Casino was born. Today, instead of gaming chips, it’s glasses and small plates that go around, beneath decorations that tell the story of the Venice of old.
Few stands, every one hand-picked
The heart of EFAW lies in its small numbers. There are 50 selected producers, and the door opens by invitation only: the event is reserved for trade professionals and is closed to the public. Since the very first edition, Brozzi has bet on quality and let quantity go, steering well clear of food markets where everything looks the same. Those who come to the Ridotto are looking for rare products, made by people who work with patience.
Chefs at work, not on show
In the hall, people really eat. Exhibitors are drawn into Brozzi‘s imaginative organisation, and the dishes are made with whatever is on display at the stands. At the stoves are Igles Corelli, known for his “Cucina Circolare” (Circular Cuisine), Bruno Cingolani, formerly of the “Dulcis Vitis” restaurant in Alba, and Daniele Siviero Ristorante “Da Piero” a Vercelli, Manuela Barbolan, along with other colleagues.
No performances for an audience: the cooks send out dishes at regular intervals, for the exhibitors and for most of the guests. Flavour is judged first; the story of the product comes later. And around the plate, things start moving. Someone kicks off a new collaboration, someone strengthens an old one, someone swaps contacts or introduces a client to another producer. Now and then, a business network even comes out of it.
The man behind EFAW
Fausto Brozzi has had an unconventional career. He is considered one of the 50 most influential photographers in the world. He has led strategic marketing for international casinos, major Swiss banks and multinationals from China to the United States, and today he teaches strategic marketing courses. For 12 years he headed the Collateral Events of the Venice Biennale. That is where he began placing food alongside art: the dishes of great chefs became works of art and foreshadowed trends that would arrive later.
Out of that experience came Extraordinary Food and Wine in Venice. Brozzi knows exactly what he wants: in food and beverage, luxury means seeking out unique products that can stir emotions and make people dream. Art, history, lifestyle and cooking all live under the same roof.
First to be announced: the Accademia della Sfoglia
The first participant to be announced is the Accademia della Sfoglia. All the others will only be revealed the day before opening.
The Academy’s name is tied to that of Rina Poletti, a master sfoglina (fresh pasta maker) born in 1951 in Finale Emilia, where the rolling pin is handed down from one generation to the next. After ten years as an office clerk in the 1970s, she left her desk behind. In 1979 she opened La Bottega della Sfoglia, which for more than thirty years was a point of reference for the whole town. More than thirty sfogline and sfoglini have learned from her across seven countries: Italy, Israel, Austria, France, England, Germany and the United States.
This is how she puts it: “The real rulebook is in your hands: they are the ones that decide whether the dough will bear good fruit.” The Academy gathers that experience and turns it into a school. It takes Emilian sfoglia around Italy and abroad, trains new professionals and supports the appeal to the Government to recognise the profession of sfoglina and sfoglino, to protect a UNESCO heritage. Anyone who wants to dig deeper will find it all in the book “RINA”: her life, vintage photos and recipes with the right quantities, together with what no tutorial will ever be able to teach.
Bruno Cingolani, the master of raw ingredients
The Accademia della Sfoglia also includes Bruno Cingolani, one of the most respected chefs on the Italian scene, whose name is known well beyond Italy’s borders. He comes from Senigallia, in the Marche region. He started out in Piedmont, at the Hasta Hotel in Asti, and for 20 years ran Dulcis Vitis in the historic centre of Alba. His cooking holds two worlds together: the pasta, seafood and game of his home region, and the French-school technique, meats and truffles of the Langhe. Clean dishes, precise cooking, no special effects. Enrico Crippa, chef at Piazza Duomo in Alba, has called him the master of raw ingredients. It’s a description that says a lot about how he works, and it explains why his presence in the Academy carries weight.
A story that lasts beyond the two days
National and international press and social media management follow the event quietly, without taking space away from the people at work. The buzz, though, carries on for weeks after it closes, and the producers’ names keep circulating.
Lentium, a regular at the Ridotto with Ennio Barbieri
Lentium Food and Wine will also be there, with Ennio Barbieri, to closely follow the Accademia della Sfoglia and the producers in the hall. Food and wine trade professionals who would like to receive an invitation can write to info@lentium.it.
