The Vite restaurant is located on a low hill in northern Italy, surrounded by green vineyards and offers panoramic views of the Adriatic Sea.
But the views and sleek and stylish interior are far from the only draws. The restaurant has just been awarded a Michelin Green Star, making it just one of 48 restaurants that have received this award in Italy.
For employees here, this is more than just an award for cooking.
What most restaurants don’t know is that almost all Vite employees are in the process of finding drug addicts. Not too long ago, they were fighting to escape a spiral of drug addiction, now they’re part of a Michelin-starred kitchen team.
The largest drug rehabilitation center in Europe
The Vite restaurant is part of the larger municipality of San Patrignano in the Emilia-Romagna region.
This centre is dedicated to helping people with drug problems recover and reintegrate into society and is the largest of its kind in Europe.
Arianna Merlo is Vite’s restaurant manager and a former member of the San Patrignano program. Like most employees at the restaurant, she took the three-year course after developing a drug addiction.
“I came here as an addict after I had already tried another pharmacological program that didn’t work for me,” said Merlo. “In fact, half an hour after I left this program, I immediately returned to drugs.”
San Patrignano’s approach — a psychotherapeutic program that doesn’t use medicines — helped her “find a balance,” she said.
In San Patrignano, patients can recover free of charge, but during their stay, they are expected to participate in various activities to learn rehabilitation skills.
The center covers a range of sectors, from meat and cheese production to furniture manufacturing and leather processing. Program participants spend a stay at the Vite restaurant at the end of their stay in San Patrignano.
“Some members of the team worked in the hospitality industry before turning to drugs, but others develop a passion while staying here,” Merlo told CNNBreakingNews.net.
“They can stay as long as they feel they need to work in a restaurant to end their time in the center and reintegrate into the outside world.”
“They are so stimulating and motivating”
Vite’s team is led by three people who work outside the San Patrignano program.
Chef Davide Pontoriere runs the kitchen, his deputy is in charge, while a professional maître d’ leads the waitress team.
Otherwise, all workers are there as part of their recovery program.
“As an outsider, it is not easy for me to work with the boys and girls. It’s a lot of responsibility because a lot of people learn from scratch,” said Pontoriere.
“But they’re so stimulating and motivating that it’s amazing to see them move on from a low point when they find themselves at the end of the course.”
The team is very young and many had succumbed to drug addiction before they turned 18. Nevertheless, they are a chic and highly professional team.
But above all, they are also very open about their past.
“Since they’re here at the end of their course, they’re happy to talk to you about anything,” Pontoriere said. “In fact, it’s people like me from outside who are afraid to ask them questions.”
Sommelier Emanuele Franchi is a former member of the San Patrignano community who is back at Vite after completing his three-year course.
“I worked in a nightclub when I had just left school, and that was the start of my trip to San Patrignano,” he explained.
He is now responsible for stocking the restaurant’s impressive wine cellar and has the ambition to open his own cocktail bar.
Many Vite employees have accepted prestigious positions in the hospitality industry.
“One of the guys who left in August is now working at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Modena,” said Pontoriere.
Pastry chef Alice Olfi only has a few weeks left until she hopes to take up the job at another restaurant. When it comes to her lemoncream-filled mini profiteroles and white chocolate macarons, she is just at the beginning of a career that could perhaps be an illustrious career.
Just the beginning
Vite was awarded a Michelin Green Star last month, four years after it opened.
The award recognizes zero-kilometer products, which make up 80 percent of the restaurant’s main ingredients.
Delicious breadsticks and fluffy focaccia come from the San Patrignano bakery, salami and cheese are made on site, and the wine comes from vineyards that are visible from the restaurant windows.
Pontoriere admits that the award doesn’t have the same weight as a “real” Michelin star, but he and the team are thrilled.
“We all watched the live stream of the awards shows in our houses,” he said. “When they said Vite, I wasn’t sure if I had heard correctly, but then the whole team called me, very happy and even in tears.”
“It felt like recognition for the team for how much they’ve changed their lives.”
Despite the challenges of having a kitchen crew that changes regularly and often learns from scratch, Pontoriere has a clear goal: “I would like to opt for the full Michelin star now.”