King Charles and Queen Camilla have hosted a dinner with an Italian theme at their Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire. The event provided guests with a taste of Italian slow food, with courses including crab, ravioli, pork, and English and Italian wine. The menu was prepared by Francesco Mazzei and came from recipes using British ingredients. Guests of note who attended the dinner included Victoria and David Beckham, fashion designer Donatella Versace and Dame Helen Mirren.
The occasion was a warm-up for the couple’s state visit to Italy and the Vatican in April, during which they will meet with Pope Francis. The trip is also expected to commemorate Charles and Camilla’s 20th wedding anniversary. As an enthusiast of art, religion and culture, the King is excited to be making his 18th official visit to the country.
The reception food highlighted rare and pasture salumi, Tuscan-style paté and coppa, British vegetables caponata tartelletta and Yorkshire pecorino cheese puffs. The main course included Scottish crab panzanella, Westcombe ricotta and Highgrove fine herbs ravioli, Suffolk Red porchetta, Isle of Wight tomato passata and a glass of white wine Gavi dei Gavi La Scolca Black label 2023 or red wine Barbaresco Gaja 2021. For dessert, there was Zuppa Inglese and biscotti, accompanied by a glass of red dessert wine, Recioto della Valpolicella Classico Zenato.
The King praised the evening’s unique combination of slow food and Italy as a priceless social and environmental asset, intimately linked to a country’s sense of identity and place. The cocktails for the dinner were prepared by Alessandro Palazzi, using herbs cultivated from the gardens at Highgrove. The night ended with a toast made by the King in Italian to Italy’s timeless food culture. This dinner precedes the Royals’ state visit to Italy, which had been decided on the previous day by Buckingham Palace
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