Francesco Cavallo, the well-known Florentine personality and owner of the Hotel Cellai has launched his first literary work, the cookbook "Cucina d'amore e libertà". His invitations in Florence are legendary, where he sometimes stands at the cooker himself. He has now put his love of good cuisine on paper. The book is a connection between love, cuisine and poetry. For Francesco Cavallo, offering food is the very first act of love in the very first day of every human being's life. Food, Francesco elaborates, is the magical Pandora's box that hides the good and the evil of humanity.

He began cooking as a small child and discovered the kitchen as a place to express his feelings and stories. Only later came his love of words, languages, literatures and humour. For him, his cookbook is a synthesis of all these worlds. His first work was published by the Florentine publisher Mandragora and contains recipes with beautiful names like "Cooking Moonlight Risotto", "Cheek to Cheek", or "The Love of Cabbage". Francesco's recipes are illustrated by the illustrator and fashion designer Susanna Spelta. The book covers the preparation of delicacies as starters as well as "La prima audacia", reserved for first courses, and "Il piatto forte", which suggests main courses. For Francesco Cavallo, it is not only the chemistry of the cuisine that is decisive but the atmosphere of the preparation. The reader also learns about the differences between the cuisine of love and the cuisine of freedom. The recipes proposed in the book take you to picturesque places, from Parisian boulevards to Spanish barrios, from the alleys of Naples to the bazaar of Damascus.

His Hotel Cellai and flats are appreciated by visitors to Florence for their décor of artwork and interior design and are often published in international design magazines.

June 4,  2022

Interview Directory 

TRAVEL

Name: Francesco Cavallo

Occupation: Hotelier, author, singer, cook

Status: Born in Florence and still enjoys travelling the world's roads. He studied law, literature and foreign languages and is passionate about the languages of the world. 

On the road: Travels to art fairs all over the world. His hotel rooms are treasures of art.

Statement: Offering food is the very first act of love in our very first day of life.

Book: Cucina D'Amore E Liberta

"In my book the recipes are alibis for discussing about literature, semiotic, lifestyle, desire and seduction."

How did you come up with the idea for this cookbook?

Cooking is a way of expressing thoughts, love and creativity. In my book the recipes are alibis for discussing about literature, semiotic, lifestyle, desire and seduction. The idea come during a conference I held time ago when I was discussing about men of love and men of freedom. 

Men of love adore plunging in warm bathtubs and meditate in silence and loneliness whilst their thoughts melt with the heat of the water. Men of freedom would better like strong and quick showers and restart their active life as soon as possible. During my talk I realized that there also could be a cuisine of love and a cuisine of freedom. 

"Offering food is the very first act of love in our very first day of life."

How important is the connection between love, cuisine and poetry to you?

Offering food is the very first act of love in our very first day of life and the biblical dispute about the forbidden apple was the original problem that the mankind had to face creating the basis for the idea of sin, which is of course the most powerful engine of the desire. Food is the magic Pandora box that hides the good and the evil of the mankind. Love, cuisine, poetry, literature but also pleasure, cruelty, desire, hate and fantasies are all nested on top of a white porcelain plate hidden in a forest of food and symbols.

All these ingredients are the ones that build relationships in between human beings. A kiss is fist of all a transmission of information and a way of feeding the other's need of love.  Desire of feeding or being fed with words, caresses, looks, perfumes and visions are the strong links that create and animate love and pleasure.

Can you tell me about your respective inspirations by means of a recipe?

Each single recipe of the book hides meanings and symbols in his structure. The choice of each single word and the position of each single comma has been attentively thought in order to create a sense of suspended sensuality.

How did your love of cooking begin?

I started cooking in my very first years and I discovered the cuisine as the most extraordinary way of telling stories. Love for word, languages, literatures and sense of humor came after. This book is the synthesis of all these worlds.

How did your connection with the illustrator Susanna Spelta come about?

When we had to decide the way of printing and building the book we had several meetings with my publisher and the art director. I wanted my book to be illustrated by a woman that had a sophisticated mix of sensuality and sense of humor. We started browsing the websites of the best Italian book illustrators and the drawings of Susanna Spelta came in front of my eyes.  I immediately fell in love for her way of reproducing tall, long legs sensual women hiding sensuality in elegant and spoiled gestures and dresses. She was definitely the right illustrator.

"Elegance and style are results of a path that never ends."

How important is it to you to live a life of style and elegance and how important are art and culture in your life?

Elegance and style are results of a path that never ends.

Good taste, capacity of creating atmospheres, choosing the right shapes, chasing the perfect color and the perfect words is a mix of personal sensibility, knowledge and respect of the other.

"The pleasure of living and offering an harmonic environment to the people I love sharing magic moments with is my strongest will. I don't know if elegance is important in my life but for sure the search of beauty, harmony and sense of humor are the keys of my existence."

The publishing house 

Founded in Florence in 1985 by Mario Curia and Sandra Rosi, the publishing house Mandragora specialises in illustrated books, art publications and catalogues, photography volumes, museum guides and monographs, children's books and art books. Most volumes are translated into at least four languages.

©Mandragora

Illustration from Cucina D'Amore by Francesco Cavallo ©Mandragora

©Francesco Cavallo ©Mandragora