A grant for Nicolò at thePanetteria Ribotta

Fondazione Italia Patria della Bellezza has a mission: to position Italy in the world through the communication of its competitive identity, promoting projects concerning landscape, cultural, social and agri-food of our country. 

Thanks to the existing collaboration with the Fondazione Cologni, once again we had the opportunity to sponsor the project “Una Scuola, Un Lavoro” (‘One School, One Job’) and to support a scholarship for a selected young artisan, artist or baker among the most deserving in Italy. 

In 2023 we supported Nicolò Cavallo's career path at the Panetteria Ribotta. Nicolò is a boy from Peveragno, a small town in the province of Cuneo. When he obtains his diploma as an electrician, he already realises that being an electrician will not be his path. During his last year of school he keeps busy delivering pizzas in the evenings and earns a job in the kitchen, first as an assistant cook, then as a pizza maker. 

After a few years as a pizza maker between Italy and Australia, he decided to invest in his training again, and attended the Modern Bakery course at Alma, la Scuola di Cucina Italiana,  in Colorno (PR). Through Alma's application, Nicolò is selected for the Fondazione Cologni's ‘Una Scuola, un Lavoro’ (A School, a Job) project. He then follows the one-month Mini Master's course, dividing his time between lectures at Milan's most renowned universities and visits to excellent bakeries. He then returns to Piedmont, to Barge (CN), to undertake the six-month internship, until mid-August 2023, in the Ribotta bakery, a small family business of the highest quality, whose exquisite products are known internationally.

Learn more 

The Ribotta Bakery, in Barge in the province of Cuneo, is now in its third generation. It was founded in 1954 by the founder Giovanni Ribotta, assisted in the shop by Maddalena who, with him, appears in the bakery's current logo. Since 2019 the baton is in the hands of Gianluca who, assisted by his wife Cecilia and supported by Tommaso and Lidia, has been able to make a significant change in terms of bread-making techniques and research into rare and special flours. Slow leavening, the rediscovery of ancient flours and innovative techniques merge past and future to offer quality products every day. Gianluca and Cecilia are always in search of excellent raw materials and base their mission on enhancing the Piedmontese and Italian territory.

‘Thanks to the whole team and especially Gianluca Ribotta, my mentor, I am growing more and more in my professional career and beyond. Sharing and comparisons are the basis of everything. From dough management to breakfast products, passing through biscuits and the incredible quality of pizza, I am increasingly enriching my personal baggage, while at the same time trying to give opinions and ideas for further growth of the restaurant. I am really happy with the path I have taken, and I sincerely thank the Foundation for the work it has done for us and for what it will continue to do.’