In the article published in November 2008 on the review “Style Magazine” for “Corriere della Sera”, Marisa Fumagalli defined Clara and Gigi Padovani the “fondente 1 couple of food writing“. “She is a former math teacher, he is a journalist. Together, they published dozens of books (translated in France and USA) in a few years.“
The common passion for chocolate and food quality of Clara Vada Padovani and her husband Gigi Padovani is expressed in different activities:
– As writers, they published a dozen books, some of them are publishing successes of over 30 000 copies: “Passione Nutella” (Giunti 2006) by Clara Vada Padovani in Italy and” Nutella, 40 ans de plaisir “in France (Michel Lafon, 2005).
– As journalists, they write in the newspaper “La Stampa” – where Gigi has been working as professional journalist since 1985 – and the monthly magazine “Specchio della Stampa” (where they wrote together from May 2007 to June 2009 the column “food” with portraits of cooks and recipes of the most prestigious restaurants of Europe and the world);
– As food critics, they have worked on restaurant guides (the “Ristoranti d’Italia” of the newspaper L’Espresso and “Identita golose” with “Storie di dolci”);
– As a blogger, they write on La Stampa website with “Dolce la vita”;
– As experts, with the creation and participation in events such as “Identita Golose” in Milan and “CioccolaTo” in Turin.
Together or on their own, they have held dozens of conferences and book presentations throughout Italy, France and the United States.
As it is clear from the book “Le ricette del cuore” (Blue Publishing, 2007, edited by Carla Sacks Ferrero), they both come form Alba and they met on school desks of the Classical High School “Govone”. Clara and Gigi therefore spent the first years sniffing the scent of Nutella and Tic Tac that hovered over the towers of their hometown (it is clear from “Gnam, Storia sociale della Nutella” published in 1999, Castelvecchi) and moved together in Turin to the university: math for her, law for him. Clara has been a high school teacher for twenty years: she’s always been attentive to the kitchen, as she confesses in the introduction of “Passione Nutella:” I like to make cakes: mixing eggs, sugar … whipping cream, egg whites … kneading flour. .. my kitchen permeated by the heady scent of freshly roasted hazelnuts and almonds”. The passion of photography and journalism led 23 year old Gigi to begin his career in newspapers, first in magazines and then in local newspapers, from “Gazzetta del Popolo” to “La Stampa”.
Clara has always helped Gigi as the first “editor” of his books, since the “Liberazione di Torino” published in 1979 (Gigi was just 23), in the series on the history of Resistance directed by Davide Lajolo, but only in recent years she began to publish her own books (the first was “Passione Nutella” in 2006) or publish together with her husband: she takes care of the recipes, the history of gastronomy, relations with the chefs, and he takes care of the interviews and actuality.
The first prize they were awarded together on October 7, 2007 at the Rose Theatre in Pontremoli is the ‘Angel Paracucchi ” of the Bancarella Cucina. It was awarded by the prestigious institution jury for the book” Conoscere il cioccolato “(Ponte alle Grazie, 2006).
1 . “Cioccolato fondente” means “Dark chocolate”. “Fondente” means also unifying, amalgamating, binding. Thus, Clara e Gigi are called the couple “fondente” recalling both their passion for chocolate and their mutual love.