The idea is to offer the 30 inmates a new “path” to their reintegration into society.
Convicted of murder, robbery and even involvement with the mafia, the inmates of the Fortezza Medicea prison, in Volterra, in northwestern Italy, are also known for running an unusual restaurant located inside the penitentiary.
The “Le Cene Galeotte” project was born in 2005 from an initiative by the director of the “House of Reclusion of Volterra”, the Italian Maria Grazia Giampiccolo, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Justice.
The initiative aims to offer a gastronomy course for inmates, considered future professionals in the hotel industry. The restaurant opens only once a month and on dinner night, the prisoners accompanied by famous Italian chefs together prepare the menu that will be served to customers.
The dinner, which has entered the calendar of good Italian cuisine, takes place inside the prison, in the old chapel on site. In the internal courtyard, starting at 19:30 pm, customers can enjoy an aperitif. On the menu, there are some local cuisine specialties such as cod with chickpeas, rabbit, meat stewed in wine. The full dinner costs 35 euros per person. With candlelight, strictly uniformed waiters and men specialized in Italian wines, dinner is served promptly at 20:30 pm. On March 24th, the meal was coordinated by the chef of the restaurant at the “Villa Cora” hotel in Florence, Alessandro Liberatore. In an interview with ANSA, the Italian said that the “menu is decided based on what I'm going to work on in the kitchen. I assess whether the environment is comfortable, and then decide on a practical menu,” he said.
In the prison kitchen, he is basically a teacher.
Accompanied by two assistants, the executive chef prepares everything, “antipasto, dessert, and I teach how to create the menu, the techniques I will use to make this type of dish. It’s a kind of school on my part for the boys,” he highlighted.
For Liberatore, the biggest challenge of cooking at Fortalezza di Volterra is "being able to cook and replenish, keeping the food always hot," since "the kitchen is 60 or 70 meters from the room" where the dishes are served. All the food prepared and the drinks used by the project are received through donations. In turn, the income raised is destined for a charitable organization.
To visit the famous restaurant you need to make a reservation a few days in advance at Agenzie Toscana Turismo or access the website www.cenegaleotte.it. However, customer data undergoes a criminal background check before confirming the visit.
The next dinner prepared by the prisoners will take place on April 21st and will be hosted by chef Beatrice Segoni, from the Konnubio restaurant in Florence. The Volterra Fortress was built at the end of the Middle Ages as a political prison. In the last decade, the penitentiary has become an important reference for Italians and foreigners in the recovery of prisoners who have been sentenced to long sentences.
By Luciana Ribeiro (ANSA)
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