A Neapolitan at La Scala: here’s the dinner menu for opening night

A Neapolitan at La Scala: Andrea Aprea will be the chef entrusted with creating the gala dinner for La Scala’s Opening Night. On the feast of Saint Ambrose, December 7th, the event will mark the opening of Italy’s most prestigious concert and theatre season in Milan. Aprea, chef of the eponymous two-star restaurant located on the top floor of the Rovati Foundation building in Corso Venezia, took inspiration from La Forza del Destino, the opera that will be performed under the musical direction of Riccardo Chailly and stage direction by Leo Muscato. “To design this menu,” Aprea explains, “I was inspired by the figure of the great Giuseppe Verdi—not only as a composer but also as a man deeply tied to conviviality and the authentic flavours of his homeland.”

Andrea Aprea

Here’s what will be served

The menu will include four finger food options to start with (Creamed cod with soft potato, Yellow tomato, lard and crispy bread, Bread soup with San Secondo pork shoulder, and Fennel seed focaccia with Piacenza pancetta) followed by the main courses: Risotto creamed with Grana Padano Riserva, mushrooms and woodland flavours. Glazed veal brisket with black pepper, accompanied by Cremona mustard and Brussels sprouts. And for dessert, the Panettone 2.0, which pays homage to Milan's Christmas tradition. «La Prima della Scala – says Aprea - is undoubtedly the most important and prestigious event of the year for Milan, and being the chef who will sign the gala dinner menu is a tremendous honour. After 14 years spent in this city, to which I feel increasingly attached, being able to celebrate such an iconic evening through my cuisine is an exciting milestone, as well as a great responsibility».

Impressive numbers

The Scala dinner, hosted by the Società del Giardino, will be managed as it has been for the past twelve years by the company Caffè Scala, which will deploy a powerful organisational effort. «In these 33 years of activity, we have always created a narrative thread between the chosen opera and the after-Scala gala – says Salvatore Quartulli, General Manager of Caffè Scala – for us the dining table becomes a stage where every detail, from the menu to the setup, is carefully tailored just like theatrical sets». The Scala dinner involves 7 maîtres, 60 waiters, 30 sommeliers and 10 logistics staff for a parterre of 550 guests. The event will incorporate principles of sustainability, solidarity and social cohesion through sustainable and charitable reuse to prevent waste, zero-kilometre products, the inclusion of young people in their first professional experience, and the integration of young people with Down syndrome through the Locanda alla Mano project. In parallel with the dinner at the Società del Giardino, a dinner will be served for the theatre’s backstage staff. This buffet, for five hundred people, will be set up in record time at the end of the opera and cooked by the brigade of Caffè Scala’s executive chef Palmer Bischetti.