Just by hearing him speak, you can see how Pasquale Polcaro is literally in love with the world of pizza. His career began in his hometown, Avellino: “I found myself in a propitious moment, working on pronounced crusts and high-quality raw materials. It was eight years ago, and I was twenty years old. After only two days spent by chance working next to Gianfranco Iervolino, I detached myself from the historical true pizza makers and I started to work upstream, with a high hydration dough and the use of the refrigerator, which at that time was an absolute taboo, and I also became very fond of bread making.
At the time, they looked at me strangely, then things changed.” Pasquale had clear ideas from what could be described as his tender age. He goes on: “I started a solo journey thanks to the first pizzerias that gave me confidence and first consents; the most significant experience was the one in Sirignano with chef Giovanni Arvonio in his pizzeria Madremia. The experience with him was important, because we worked side by side, starting with mother yeast, of which I am not an expert; it was complicated but at the same time gave us great satisfaction, from the fermentation room to the research on toppings. Our vision of pizzas was perhaps too futuristic, with things like a tribute to Gualtiero Marchesi or the ‘wrong’ Genovese. Then unfortunately the pandemic came along, and I had to step away for other projects.”
At a certain point in his already successful career, Polcaro decided to move to the center of Florence, having been called by Maestro Gabriele Dani, at Dissapore in Cecina, which has three slices in the Gambero Rosso guide, for a new project, Largo9, (also three slices). “I was intrigued by Tuscany, it was supposed to be a temporary experience, but in the end, we fell in love, in a way. We have a great time working together, we make several doughs, both related to traditional Neapolitan pizza and to gourmet pizza – with a soft inner and a great crunchy outer – with which we experiment more elaborate fillings recalling haute cuisine.” Before Madremia, however, Pasquale specialized in the products of his native land, Irpinia, thanks to his participation in the Quadrifoglio project with Davide Filadoro, in Montemiletto: “I was completely immersed in the study of the products of the territory. From there, the idea of presenting at Emergente Pizza something completely based on two cornerstones such as Irpinia and the concept of recovery.
So he came up with something as beautiful as it is complex: he recreated and described the ‘life cycle’ of the tomato, from birth to end. “The life of the tomato” – this is the name of the pizza realized with steamed dough – is characterized by textures and maturations related to the different temporal stages of life of the vegetable. It starts from the soil, where the tomato comes to life, with a crumble composed of bitter cocoa and sweet tomato, then continues with basil seeds, representing the moment when the first sprouts begin to emerge. From here, the journey begins through the colors of the tomato. Green for the unripe tomato, cut into thin slices, yellow tomato gel and orange tomato with vinegar. Then, baby confit datterini tomatoes and then the red color of San Marzano tomato essence. The end of the cycle comes in the form of fermented tomato cream. “For me – Pasquale confesses – this pizza represents life”. And it’s still just the beginning for him.
