The chef who manages all the gastronomic activities of the Venice Film Festival is Tino Vettorello, who is from the province of Treviso and is 62 years old. His story, told by CiboToday, goes far beyond “star chef” – a term he uses to introduce himself. On the contrary, it is a beautiful Italian story of a company, family, product and healthy entrepreneurship. Even export.
History of the Vettorello family
In fact, it all started many, many years ago with the Vettorello family company, which has been distributing food products since the days of Tino’s grandparents: “I have a photo of them with carts that were distributing beer,” says the nephew. The business then expanded, focusing on food supplies to hotels and restaurants throughout the Northeast. A selection process that in recent years has accelerated Made in Italy products of the highest quality: “And this is what makes me feel at ease, considering that over the years I have fed athletes, artists, actors and directors. You can never go wrong here.” For some time now, the Vettorello group has also begun to produce wine, and a line of products under the brand name “Tino” may soon appear. Meanwhile, he also crossed the border into Austria, in Klagenfurt, where Tino recently acquired the restaurant Osteria Veneta, and the family company also runs an Italian quality supermarket.
Career
Chef Tino Vettorello worked in historic kitchens such as that of Gambrinus (a Michelin star for almost fifty years in the province of Treviso) before starting his own business: in 1995 he opened the Trattoria Traghetto, today called Tino Traghetto and located on the banks of Piave, in Roncadelle, near Treviso. While he continues to organize high-level catering with his company Tino Eventi (in Venice, as well as at several sporting events, including some Winter Olympics or the World Swimming Championships in Rome), the business is expanding: Tino Gourmet opens first. , the finest restaurant located in the Hotel Villa Soligo in the Prosecco hills, and more recently Tino Jesolo, located in the resort of Michelangelo, where the yacht club is also located. Here Vettorello prepares the food that comes from the fishing boats of Caorle or Chioggia. He was also one of the first to bring blue crab to the table.
Film Festival
And the Biennale? The collaboration started in 2010 and has always been renewed even in the most difficult Covid years. For this year’s film festival, from August 30 to September 9, Vettorello organizes all the catering on the territory, which he himself conceived almost fifteen years ago: there is the Terrace restaurant, 120 outdoor seats and with all its schedule of events, as well as the Casino Restaurant. And then a garden restaurant in a green area and in an area more street food oriented (including a pizzeria), so the offer is really for any budget and fully reflects the Italian spirit, although there is a strong offer of international cuisine. In addition, every day you have to feed the jury, delegations, press bars … The logistical effort is significant: “Kitchens, laundries, laboratories – we build everything every time; there is a world behind a plate of pasta. Therefore, it would be interesting to leave catering on the Lido terrace for several months of the year, and not just for ten days of the event.”
Constant contact with movie stars (from Penélope Cruz to Lady Gaga, from Michelle Pfiffer to Monica Bellucci) prompted Chef Vettorello to create special dishes that he always keeps on the menu of his Tino Gourmet restaurant with pleasure. First of all, an example is “Showdown” in the style of George Clooney: “I study the star, in the end I understand what he might like, this is also psychological work. It’s a diced turbot made with vodka and prosecco, served with salicornia, then raspberries for redness and strength, and citrus in jelly for a touch of sunshine.” And for Penelope Cruz? “For her,” he says, “squid ink spaghetti cooked in prosecco and then fried with a little oil for polishing, raw red shrimp tartare from Mazara, and some salmon caviar.” But the funniest episodes are connected with Vasco Rossi and the recipe called “Orata Spericolata”, which is a kind of reproduction in a plate of a crowded concert that Blasco gave in Mestre, during which Tino visited one of the restaurants.
Speaking about his activities outside of restaurants, Tino clarifies: “I do not do catering, but authentic catering. At the Biennale, for example, there were trucks before us, there was a catering offer that was not catering. Starting in 2010, I proposed an agri-food project based on the experience I gained at the 2009 Swimming World Championships: only in this way can product promotion be achieved. I thank my guys,” he concludes, “because sometimes they face physical fatigue.” Nevertheless, we continue to travel, travel the world, bring Italian (and Venetian) cuisine from Austria to Kazakhstan: “I can only do this because I am having fun like crazy, as soon as the fun is over, I will stop.”