Italian chef Marco Cervetti heads Ukrainian Silpo restaurants, promotes Italian cuisine

It has been almost four years since the moment when Marco Cervetti set foot in Ukraine. The talented Italian chef says he has never regretted that decision.

In 2015, he was inspired by Kyiv and the project that he was invited to participate in.

Today, 43-year-old Cervetti is brand chef at the Silpo supermarkets chain and Le Silpo premium stores, which is the part of Fozzy Group, one of the largest food retail companies in Ukraine.

“When I came here for the first time everything amazed me — both the city and the project. I was even told to wait and find out about the conditions and salary. But I said it’s not important anymore! It’s a great honor,” Cervetti told the Kyiv Post on June 4 in Kyiv.

He was astonished by the fact that in one store people make cheese, bake bread, cook food, roast coffee and much more.

“In Italy we have nothing like the Silpo chain. Italians who come here are shocked!” Cervetti said.

In total, more than 30 Silpo restaurants and food courts across Ukraine are managed by Cervetti. His goal is to develop Ukraine’s culinary art across the country.

“Each restaurant has its own face, its own chef, its own menu, which is different from all the other places,” he said.

“Each region develops its traditions, local dishes as this is very important. This includes the process of de-Sovietization, when everything was the same in regards to food. Whether it was a cafe near the border with Poland or a cafe in (Russia’s) Vladivostok — people had the same menu, the same taste, and the same interior.”

Positano

Cervetti also heads Positano, a pizzeria restaurant, with traditional Neapolitan cuisine on Kyiv’s left bank, together with Enzo Coccia, a world-famous Michelin-star pizza chef from Naples. That pizzeria, which was ranked 30th among Europe’s top pizzerias in 2019 by 50 Top Pizza, is also part of Fozzy Group.

“Neapolitan pizza is the real deal. Here we have a million little nuances to learn. At the same time, it is necessary to practice every day,” he says.

According to Cervetti, Coccia periodically does quality checks at Positano as well as introduces new pizza recipes and updates the menu.

Moreover, Cervetti has a YouTube channel with nearly 90,000 subscribers where he enthusiastically shares Italian recipes.

Ukraine is not Russia

Before Cervetti started to work in Ukraine, he didn’t know much about the country, just like most Italians.

“Few people know that this is a big country, that it has great agriculture, that there are fantastic cities like Lviv, Odesa, Kyiv, Zhytomyr,” said Cervetti.
Even now, after Russia started a war against Ukraine in 2014, many Italians are still surprised when Cervetti says that Ukrainian and Russian are different languages, and that the two countries have different histories and culture.

And if they have heard of Ukraine, it is mostly about Russia’s ongoing war.

“In Italian media there is a lot of propaganda encouraging Italians not to visit Ukraine saying that it is very dangerous. But it is completely clear for me that this is a geopolitical conflict which will unlikely become any larger. This is probably a scheme to destabilize the region,” Cervetti said.

Every cloud has a silver lining

Before Cervetti came to Ukraine, he was successfully working in Moscow for 11 years. He was a brand chef of Cervetti Bar and Primitivo wine restaurant.

But his time in Russia was over in 2014.

Cervetti’s bar was located in the Central House of Journalists right in downtown Moscow where Russian intelligentsia would meet. But not anymore.
“I was friends with journalists, intellectuals of Moscow, with architects, writers –everyone gathered in my bar,” he said.

But during 2013–2014, Cervetti clearly saw that they all disappeared; some were even killed.

“There was a moment when I directly felt how the Kremlin began to go nuts. Previously, despite the political circumstances, everyone was allowed to share opinions. But at one point I realized that everything changed,” he said. “A bunch of magazines, newspapers, websites were closed. Chief editors were replaced.”

Cervetti witnessed how the media completely collapsed.

“I realized that this is not the same Moscow, it’s no longer that historical period I belonged to. I thought that it was time for me to return (to Italy). The society and city turned into something which is no longer mine,” he said.

As Cervetti left Russia he returned to Venice and opened an osteria called Adriatico Mar with lots of wine, appetizers and culinary theater.

“This is a format that is very lacking all over the world because it is still the most human format. This is a place where people talk,” he said.

Cervetti still manages Adriatico Mar simultaneously with the giant project he does in Ukraine. But besides osteria, there is something in Italy he still misses a lot.

“I miss my parents, my friends, and communicating in Italian. It’s not the same to talk by phone. But when I go to Le Silpo it turns into an osteria.”