«Trussardi will remain open with a restaurant and café. But without us.” An announced divorce between Giancarlo Perbellini and the Trussardi Group, which now appears official. And above all, incurable. The chef himself, who has six Michelin stars in total, confessed this to Corriere today, on the sidelines of the pre-opening of the new “Casa Perbellini”, which is moving from San Zeno to the historic premises of “12 Apostoli” in Veronese. In the very kitchen where the same eighteen-year-old chef had started working with the Gioco family.
Trussardi has been closed since August
A long-awaited confirmation from the star chef. Also because the gourmet restaurant, where chefs Andrea Berton, Luigi Taglienti and Roberto Conti had worked in the past, was closed at the beginning of August for public holidays but never reopened. And many wondered about his fate. The reasons for the separation from the Milan fashion house are still unclear, but everything points to the moment of crisis that the high fashion group is experiencing. Perbellini joined Trussardi in fall 2022 when the company decided to reinvest in signature catering and collaborate with one of the most recognizable faces in Italian haute cuisine. This is how “Trussardi by Giancarlo Perbellini” was born, one of the most heralded and anticipated openings of the season.
A moving story
The partnership seemed to have solid foundations and bright prospects. Instead, things turned around last March: just four months after the inauguration, the Trussardi board was unexpectedly dissolved. The cause? A cumulative debt of 50 million euros. A few weeks later, Giancarlo Perbellini resigned from the board of Pontaccio, a Trussardi Group company dedicated to catering. It was then that rumors and indiscretions began to circulate: what would happen to the restaurant and café-bistro at 5 Piazza della Scala? So Perbellini’s statements seemed to leave a ray of hope: “I have resigned from the board as a necessary action,” he explained. Since the CEO of Pontaccio was no longer there, I had no signing authority to pay the employees’ salaries. At the moment I have no desire to leave the restaurant nor is the restaurant about to close. It’s not easy, but we invested in Milan and I want to stay here.” However, judging by today’s statements, something must have definitely changed since then and the Milan adventure is coming to an end.
The new “Casa Perbellini” in the historic center of Verona
But now the chef’s attention turns to his new Veronese “creature”. In fact, on September 5th the restaurant “Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli” in the Vicolo Corticella San Marco will open to the public. In the rooms renovated by Patricia Urquiola and Silvia Bettini, three refined and personal food and wine routes are offered: “Me and Silvia”, dedicated to his wife; “Io e Giorgio”, a tribute to Giorgio Gioco that includes all the symbolic dishes of Perbellini’s culinary journey; and finally “Essenza”, a vegetarian and gluten-free menu that guarantees a complete sensory experience. And all of this, of course, accompanied by the à la carte menu and a large selection of desserts. Two rooms are then dedicated to wine. The first is the cellar, designed almost like a small temple, a meeting point between tradition and modernity, between exquisite wines and absolute rarities. The second is the historic cellar of the restaurant: over 300 exclusive labels are kept in a vaulted room and are enriched with original finds from Roman times and the Middle Ages.