You've tried it, haven't you? Two large slices of bread (strictly cooked with wood or pellets) which are enclosed, once mayonnaise spread inside, on a horizontal layered filling of raw ham, fiordilatte cheese, salad tomatoes (the size of fried green ones .. at the train stop , trivial quote for cinephiles) and, then ... Then? Placing the creation on the red-hot grill, it is necessary to carefully crush it, turning the two faces upside down a couple of times, so that the heat does its part to the middle, and the superficial singes of the crumb, which must not reach the too crunchy border of the bruschetta ... impregnate with liquids, fats and perfumes… Finally, the two slices swollen with delicacy are cut transversely in half, and goes with "bottomless" beer.
Not everyone knows that the Zingara is a true Ischitan, has a background of Anglo-Saxon inspiration, was born in Ischia Ponte in the second half of the 1970s and her creator is a multifaceted, versatile and creative character at the top: Nello Massa. A very original designer and sculptor, an hypersensitive and reflective artist; A modern and highly inventive entrepreneur, skilled diver, globetrotter and also a husband and permanent father, Nello is a talented islander who has a rare quality, the understatement, which I translate with the following definition "the awareness of a relational smile". We are friends, we rarely meet, he married my cousin Giovanna Molino and I love him.
It took me just a while to convince him to tell me about the birth of the Zingara: this means for me giving him a patent he never thought of, a sort of appropriate identity compensation, given that this sandwich is a little hippie, of simple avant-garde and foresight (nomen omen, in all meanings ...); and has largely crossed the island's borders to become a well-known icon of Campania food, also national and with a few escapades abroad, where the Italian sound of food always works (in Spain I think).
And here, then, further on you will read the essential story of Nello Massa. Symbolically historic, it takes me back to the age of the almost ferocious lightheartedness of high school, funny, somehow exciting for some details. Also because it starts in London and allows me to associate two strong beautiful images that I shot there some time ago: outside Shakespeare's Globe Theater and inside the Tate Modern. Mythical places, close to each other ... For different reasons - I rely on the acumen of those who observe them and think about them - the two photos are linked to the "Zingara" ... Ah, ah. Added value, my way.
«It was August, we were in London. Yes, we went to London, at that time we used to do this. The house was called Venice House - Nello remembers. It was where we rented the room. With a little delay, I realised that there was a pub under the house and it intrigued me. One afternoon I went there for a beer: I was amazed by the huge amount of typical things that were in there. I had never seen a real English pub closely, and I was really a little jealous of all those typical objects and furnishings! I was coming from Ischia, where the typical features and traditions of young people were not appreciated at all, especially in that period. We are talking about 1974, we felt inferior to those of the continent and therefore we tried to imitate them in everything. This sense of exogenous assimilation made us even reject all the traditions of this wonderful microcosm that our Ischia is».
The memory of the impression that the London pub had left me had never abbandoned my mind at all. I then decided that myself too had to do something really typical, but typical of Ischia. I transformed those three small amorphous rooms into a graceful space: two large light arches with lowered arches in sequence created harmony and continuity. The white lime plaster was fantastic and the semicircular masonry seats with long cushions marked the idea of the Mediterranean island even more. The ceiling beams were stained in walnut and the tables and benches in double wood, too, and then painted. The back counter was made from the side of a huge barrel, and the back of a very long bench was made from two green horsehair mules. The work was long and lasted four months. I called it "La virgola" (the comma), and everyone immediately liked it».
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