Simone Padoan

Even though in the food equation pizza and Southern Italy are thought to be inseparable factors, we must admit and consider that over the last 20 years this famous, renowned and sinfully delicious dish found an original interpretative trend within the Po Valley as well.

Gastronomy and Wine Pizza

Simone Padoan, with his restaurant I Tigli, located in San Bonifacio, a tiny town near Verona nestled at the feet of rolling hills, is considered the pioneer of what today we call “gourmet pizza”. Born in 1971, Padoan is the youngest of 9 siblings and since a very young age his pastimes involved flour, rising agents and tomato sauce. After six years of experience in his brother's pizzeria, he changed course opening his own restaurant, I Tigli, in 1994. But it was in 1999, just before the turn of the millennium, that Padoan, as the true trailblazer he is, inaugurated his personal pizza-making philosophy. A unique approach, a precursor of what would later become a specific area in the world of gourmet pizza, today widely popular among many pizza makers in our country. Starting from the base, the dough isn’t just a support for condiments, rather acquires its own flavour autonomy, characterized by lightness and high digestibility, with the added bonus of using ingredients and techniques never before employed outside of the starred fine dining world.

Pizza, in its circular integrity, becomes now a delicious succession of slices where, mirroring a high class gastronomical menu, you can find vegetables, fermented ingredients, sumptuous meats, rare cheeses and fish! Simone Padoan revolutionized the concept of pizza in its very native country. He elevated it, making it possible for the reputation of a pizza maker to rise to the level of a chef's. After years of research and experimentation, thanks to this Master of Arts and Crafts, I Tigli became a reference point for a kind of pizza which combines the world of flour and yeast with the universe of authorial cuisine. 

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