Italy: how much happiness is enclosed in this single word! The sun, the sea, the hospitality, the culture, the food: the choice is difficult once you have crossed the Alps.

But really, how can anyone resist the food? A new generation of Italian chefs has made a virtue of travel and has learned a great deal without betraying the past. Italian cuisine is still very much modeled on home-style cooking and the influence of generations of grandmothers, but these young chefs have set themselves the additional goal of giving this sound base a creative twist.

The innate aesthetic sensibility of the Italians has transformed even the trattoria into a sophisticated dining space.

Nino Graziano is very much a part of this new generation and he has never hesitated to put his cooking on the line, to dare where others are content to perpetuate the status quo. His motto: Move people, touch them with your cooking. He succeeds in doing this by applying his imagination to traditional Sicilian cuisine. This very subtle balance between tradition and innovation most clearly characterizes the cooking of my friend Nino and on that front, we understand one another perfectly.

Jean-Georges Klein
L'Arnsbourg Baerenthal,
September 2003

His identity card defines him quite simply as "chef", but there is more to Nino Graziano than this label implies. The chef patron of Il Mulinazzo plies his trade in Villaftati, a tiny town off the highway that connects Palermo to Agrigento. No matter what dish he happens to be preparing, no matter how much frenetic activity whirls about his famous kitchen, Nino remains focused on offering an emotional experience. He is intent upon concentrating visual, olfactory and gustatory sensations into something more that a sum of stimuli.

A creator of emotions might, in fact, be a better definition for this chef who, in just a few years, has managed to become a major player in the Italian restaurant scene. Certainly he is the chef who has aroused the most interest among colleagues and enlightened diners alike. This is true perhaps because he so completely incarnates the Sicilian stereotype with his black mustache, his gesturing, his slow, measured way of speaking, his curious penetrating black eyes and his notable humility (not a bat trait in a trade noted for its egos). It also true because his cuisine offers a resounding confirmation of the importance of the territorial bond that continues to sustain the finest Italian cooking. Sicily represents the great unexplored territory yet to be discovered.

Certainly, there is talent in Nino's cooking, but there is also a great deal of research into the island's many fine ingredients. The list of dishes that he has rediscovered or reinvented in a modern key is a long one, but his signature dish should suffice as an example: Macco di fave con scampi ricotta (Puree of fava beans with scampi and ricotta). Macco is the Sicilian version of the Italian passato, which refers to a preparation that has been passed through a sieve. In this case the finest cooked legumes (fresh or dried) are reduced to a puree and enriched with scampi and a drizzle of (rigorously Sicilian) extra virgin olive oil. This is not merely delicious; it is the essence of the island in a single dish, an emotional experience for even the most jaded gourmet.

Нино Грациано не одномерный персонаж, которого можно было бы определить только профессией. Каждый из нас несет в своем профессиональном багаже что-то из семейного наследия, личные интересы и уникальное восприятие внешнего мира. Путешествия и футбол сыграли значительную роль в профессиональной карьере Нино, но, чтобы узнать, как все произошло, необходимо вернуться к началу истории.

Nino Graziano is not a one-dimensional character defined by his trade. Each of us carries in his or her professional baggage something of our family legacy, our personal interests and our singular sensibility. Travel and soccer have played important roles in Nino's professional career, but it is necessary to return to the beginning of his story to see just how this occurred. Nino was born in Bolognetta, another small town in the Palermo hinterland, not far from Villafrati. His father worked the land; his mother was the centre of their home. With his two brothers and a sister they formed a typical Sicilian family, their lives revolving around the land, their small economies and their familial affections. When he finished junior high Nino decided to continue his studies, a step that meant commuting to Palermo every day. His father encouraged him to enroll in hotel school, not because it was considered a fairly sure route to finding a job, but also so that he would not "die of hunger". Nino recalls, "I went off to school and in a couple of years I achieved the status of apprentice chef. My first job landed me in the kitchen of a restaurant in Mondello for the summer season. "This fashionable beach resort of the Palermitani, with its villas from the Liberty period was also the preferred destination for waves of weekend bathers from the city's working class, Nino recalls, "I began cleaning squid at ten in the morning and finished at ten at night. It seemed as though I did nothing else." A passion for travel and a youthful desire too seek new experiences, inspired the not yet eighteen year old Nino to seek employment abroad. "I received an offer to work in an Italian trattoria in Lausanne and didn't have to think twice. In any case, my decision to become a chef was in part motivated by the idea that the job would allow me to travel a great deal. I was fortunate that one of my first positions was in Switzerland. There I discovered a completely different world. Lausanne seemed light years away from all that I had known.

A wealthy city, it seemed populated by beautiful people and it presented many opportunities to enjoy oneself. In was my ticket to learning to speak French and even though there was work to be done, there was free time for friends and the disco. There for the first time I worked as part of a team of chefs. There were seven of us and I discovered there was a great deal of respect for the role. With a day and a half off every week, to it felt like quite a conquest."

But Nino did not stop there. Each winter he went to Sicily. He did his obligatory military service and worked for a brief period in the resort city of Rimini.There he met some French colleagues and they hit it off instantly. A job offer from the other side of the Alps was quick to arrive and Nino was seriously considering it. He went back to Sicily to think it over and found himself with yet another offer: a starting position with Misilmeri, a minor league soccer team. The salary of two and a half million lira per month was nothing to scoff at in 1975 and team's owner even offered to eventually find a full time job as a chef if he had second thoughts. Nino was obviously tempted. The team position seemed to enclose all of enclose all of the known quantities: a stable job, proximity to family, Sicily - but the following day he was on his way to France, specifically to Metz, an important city in the Alsace-Lorraine region. His adventures had begun. Nino went to work in a large hotel that included a restaurant and a disco. "The cuisine was international and I did my part with dignity".

At this point, Nino recalls, "I was twenty three and looking to have a good time." After work there was dancing and a lot of youthful hijinks. His two closest friends proposed a joint venture - opening an Italian restaurant. Together they found a rustic building near a forest. With help from the city, they remodeled it and so began a real adventure: Papiermuhle. The Paper Mill's specialties were spaghetti and Iasagna. "It was a great learning experience," quips the chef of il Mulinazzo.

The term "Italian chef" means absolutely nothing in France. Right or wrong the French believe themselves to be the world's finest practitioners of the culinary arts. Even today they look down on the Italian restaurant scene. Despite this, it went well. Those were extraordinary years. The restaurant was a big success. We had a capacity for one hundred twenty and we were full from morning to night.

"And soccer? "I didn't exactly hang up my playing shoes. I played for Metz in the C league. The game was with me after all and it turned out to be a great way to expand our clientele."

In France Nino met his future wife Sabine Bour and it was she who represented a real turning point. The daughter of restaurateurs, she became more than a faithful helpmate in Nino's professional life. His most important advisor, she played a major role in the decision making that followed. Today she is the guiding force of the dining room at all Mulinazzo. Her firmness and efficiency pervade the restaurant. Still based in France, they married in 1980. Not long after, Nino succumbed to one of those nostalgic crises that can only happen to Sicilians (islanders in their souls). "At a certain point," he explains, "I started to miss the light, the sun, the heat. I was homesick for Sicily." The couple headed south, but not straight for Sicily. In Ventimiglia they stopped to visit Nino's aunt and ended up staying. There they felt as though they had found the best of both worlds, France and Italy. The Mediterranean was once more in site the climate was gentler. For a honeymoon there would be time later; Nino had already found work. In Menton, he bought a pizzeria for twenty-seven million lira and they were off and running again. Their initial venture as a couple, the restaurant offered international cuisine in addition to the ever-present pizza. Here too thing went well. Nino played on the local soccer team in Bordighera and the restaurant was soon overflowing with teammates and friends. Yet, it three years they were ready to raise the stakes. They sold the combination restaurant-pizzeria and acquired a larger restaurant in Ventimiglia. For the first time Nino was not enjoying his work which seemed repetitions and monotonous. When their old friends from Metz encouraged them to return, the couple headed back to Alsace-Lorraine. But, nothing was the same. Papiermuhle was only a fond memory. When he met Georges Smith, the chef of a restaurant not far from Metz, Nino was poised for a change. This important relationship drew him into world of haute cuisine and marked a period of significant growth. The team forward, the kid from Bolognetta, the aspiring chef who wanted to see the world grew up.

The accumulated layers of professional experience, relationships and travel had sedimented. Over time, a personal concept of haute cuisine gradually took shape, as did the realization that there were really no secrets. It was passion that fueled the most successful chefs.At the end of the 1980s the Craziano family (now with two children, Elena and Deborah, in tow) moved yet again. This time they really did head South, to Sicily. It was time to go home. Nino was ready to start over again. We should recall that the Sicily he returned to had yet to establish itself on the gastronomic scene. Its wine boom was still very much in the future. Nino and Sabine opened their restaurant on the important artery joined Palermo to Agrigento. Little by little, the modest square building improved its appearance and became more welcoming. Situated among the high hills that surround Palermo, it offered a view of sunburned fields, scattered hill towns and the stately passage of life tied to the agricultural calendar. Here Nino concentrated on creating a Sicilian cuisine that would cast an ironic glance at its French counterpart. Hardly an easy task, it demanded a great of reinvention, study, comparison and tasting. Sabine proved to be an essential assistant as she had both a discriminating eye and palate. There was, of course, the problem of provisions. The fish? Freshness is not always a given, even on an island in a town just a few kilometers from the ocean. Nino remained undaunted. He redoubled his efforts until he had established with the market at Porticello, a coastal town with the largest fishing fleet in the province. And the ricotta? The process was repeated until he had found the finest cheesemaker in the district. These are but two examples, but they are emblematic.

Dishes were short-lived on the menu. Nino was in constant motion, creating and re- creating from morning to night. Slowly, he built a clientele, but is also quick to confess, "At the outset, things were very difficult. It was hard for us to undermine some very basic concepts about Sicilian cooking, to make people understand that the long cooking and heavy-handed seasoning they were accustomed to needed to be abandoned. When I said these things, they looked at me with suspicion." But, recognition did eventually arrive. The gastronomic guides began to take note of the unassuming restaurant off highway, citing its interesting cuisine. From the close of the 1990s the consensus has mounted to in an ever-rising crescendo as the various elements the specialized press "discovered" the Mulinazzo phenomenon. It was a propitious moment because it coincided with the media's discovery of the wine of Sicily. The wine-food connection was inevitable and Nino was soon acclaimed as one of the principal forces behind the island's gastronomic Renaissance. The Espresso Restaurant Guide ranked Il Mulinazzo as the top Sicilian restaurant. Word began to spread beyond the island. Even today Nino recalls with a note of pride the Japanese diner who took the 30-kilometer taxi ride from Palermo's top hotel to dine at his restaurant (leaving the driver waiting for the return trip). It was an expensive undertaking, but the Japanese man was willing to make the investment to dine at Il Mulinazzo. From that time it was not long until he was granted his second Michelin star, a fitting accolade for a lifetime of sacrifice, a fine accomplishment not only for the chef who has best interpreted the island's flavors, but for Sicily as well.

Nino and Sabine's achievement came at a very important juncture for Sicily, a fortunate moment. "After the dark years in which the Mafia, people have begun to associate it with something positive. Rather than ask who was killed where, tourists are now more likely to inquire about a particular grape variety, the late ripening peaches or a rare cheese. We have extraordinary ingredients at our disposal transformed by artisans and not by artisans and not by agribusiness. This guarantees real flavor." For this reason as well, Sicily is being talked about in a new way.

That's all there is to it. No alchemy, no tricks, no special effects. This is a simple story about a chef, a creator of emotions, an enthusiast for his work, insatiably curious. "My secret? There are no secrets in this line of work," Nino replies. "The other day I read an interview with Claudio Abbado, the famous conductor. When asked what it means to be young, he replied, "To have passion. To trust one's instincts and hurl oneself into the breach." In my small way I try to do the same and perhaps that is what makes me feel young. Passion is the driving force and perhaps there is something to be said for the concept of striving to make others happy. If my cooking makes people happy, then so am I."

Fabrizio Carrera