Pasta and Pizza Making Experiences
Professional Chefs Gianluca & Roberto of Italy
by VIDERE
Pizza Making Class at Sunset
We had the pleasure of meeting Gianluca Bartolotta on our first night at Villa Ardore. Blue hour started to take over the sky. The coals in the outdoor oven had burnt down perfectly. The beautiful fresh balls of dough were stacked high in their crates, waiting for the party of 26 people to arrive.
“Professional Chef” is really putting it mildly when speaking of Gianluca. This night he was not only helping our crew of inexperienced pizza makers turn into pizza chefs in under 5 minutes, he was also our entertainment, educator, and guide, taking us all individually through a fun, hands on experience that helped bring us together as a group on our first night.
Dough was flying in the air, wine was being poured, pizza toppings were being customized, pizza were being spun by the wood burning fire, and amongst all of it Chef Gianluca Bartolotta was guiding the whole process.
This experience we were hired to capture was part of the Land and Sea Excursion Villa Ardore had put together for their collaboration with Worth Avenue Yachts. Our job was to showcase what the yachting clients could enjoy when they stepped foot off of the boat and onto Tuscany soil.
Just like we mentioned in our Villa Ardore Project, we did not have full creative control here. Our role was not to stage “the perfect pizza making class”, it was to capture the experience, honestly and organically, exactly as it would happen in real life, and I think that’s what’s so beautiful about this type of shoot- from both our perspective and a client perspective. You don’t have to overthink, overdo, or over design anything if you don’t want to when you hire us. Sometimes allowing things to be exactly as they are, un-staged, is what will work best in your marketing. These images and videos are a perfect example of- just because you choose to keep the process simple does not mean the visuals have to suffer. Sometimes keeping things simple allows the story to come through in a way that resonates with people because it’s not forced.
Pasta Making Class and Family Style Fine Dining with Chef Roberto Miceli
The last day of our stay we were able to work with Chef Roberto in his Pasta making class at the Villa. What a treat to see so many of the visitors get so hands on, and to witness all the laughs and smiles that went along with working with him! Again, as a Personal Chef he really went above and beyond making everyone feel included and capable.
When shooting in environments like this we’re always aware and respectful of our surroundings and one step ahead, seeing how we can capture yet not disrupt the scene in the present so the viewer in the future can feel included. It’s a dance to take up enough space to get the shot while also leaving enough space for real life to unfold. Stay too far away and you miss the emotion. Invade too closely and people tend to pull back because, remember, they are not models, and it’s not their normal to be captured. We pride ourselves in being able to create that balance at your events or experiences you want captured.
After the pasta was done Chef Roberto went to work for HOURS in the kitchen behind the scenes, preparing for all 26 of us a 5 course meal that we all would indulge in together, later that evening. The menu included the pasta we had made earlier to bring it all full circle.
I’ll be honest- we have no visuals of this part of our stay because we seized the opportunity given to us to be fully present and not tucked away behind our gear. We were able to enjoy our last evening at Villa Ardore with all of our new friends we had made in Italy through this extensive project, eating beyond delicious and beautiful food!
It was actually this evening we were invited to work on our next big project with Worth Avenue Yachts, which was FLIBS, which we’ll share more about in a future Project!
If you find yourself in Europe craving some pizza and pasta, or just want to stay inspired by their creations, you can connect with them both via their social media accounts:
Chef Roberto Miceli on Facebook
Chef Roberto Miceli on Instagram
Chef Gianluca Bartolotta on Instagram
Do you have an event or experience coming up that you want captured for your marketing?
Reach out to us. We would LOVE to start a conversation about how Videre can help you elevate your visuals!