Roberto Barni's Uffizi Sculpture Inspires Max Alajmo's Saffron Risotto

Chef Max Alajmo, founder of Le Calandre and the youngest chef ever to earn three Michelin stars (in 2002 at age 28), has created a saffron risotto with licorice powder inspired by Roberto Barni's 2013 sculpture 'I passi d'oro' (The Golden Steps), installed outside the Uffizi in Florence. The bronze and gold-leaf work, commissioned by the Gallerie degli Uffizi for the 20th anniversary of the 1993 mafia bombing on Via dei Georgofili that killed five people, depicts the artist striding forward carrying five gilded figures. Alajmo's dish, available this summer at Le Calandre in Sarmeola di Rubano (Padua), contrasts the darkness of licorice with the light of saffron, mirroring the sculpture's theme of beauty overcoming tragedy. The sculpture was placed about 20 meters high on the right side of the Uffizi complex facing Via dei Georgofili. Barni stated he used eternal materials—bronze and gold—to blind the darkness with light, evoking a Nike-like figure of victory carrying the five victims.