In her laboratory in Piazza Sant'Elena, Rossella Dessì, 30, moves as precisely as a Swiss watch. She calculates the doses, prepares the decorations, creates magic. And it couldn't be otherwise because she learned to make sweets from none other than Iginio Massari, the master of pastry making.

Massari teaches

She graduated from that school with top marks and a wealth of experience that not everyone has, "but to be honest, the teacher didn't inspire fear in me," she says, "because I've always been precise like him. He was always very kind and encouraged us, saying that it takes sacrifice and dedication." After Massari's school, she started working in a famous pastry shop in Loreto, but never gave up on her dream: to return to Sardinia. Because unlike many who leave the island to find a job, she did the opposite: "I gave it my all, because I wanted to return here to my homeland and with many sacrifices I managed to open my pastry shop in Quartu."

The passion

It was clear that she was destined for the future since she was a child, when, sitting on a chair in the kitchen, she would watch her mother, "who was very good at preparing many dishes. I especially remember the sauce, which is the first thing I learned to make." As she grew up, her life seemed to take a different path: "I enrolled in Biology, but to detach myself from the stress I started making desserts. With my friends we even created a group "The tiramisu girls" that I prepare with banana slices just like my mother used to make." Then came the cakes and the decision to change her life. "I understood what I really wanted to do, so I told my father that I wanted to leave university and dedicate myself to my passion for pastry making."

The top school

But to do so, you needed the best school: «I went to Brescia to Iginio Massari. I moved and discovered a magical world. The first meeting with the master was in class while we were learning to work with the piping bag. An incredible emotion. For him, precision is the most important thing. I say that it is a question of chemical reactions between molecules and I must say that my biology studies in this sense helped me a lot. It is all a question of quantity and temperatures». The most difficult thing? «Definitely the large leavened products such as panettone, pandoro, colomba. Master Massari taught us the importance of the quality of the ingredients, such as the use of mother yeast, butter, vanilla pods». After four months of theory and four of practice, Rossella Dessì began working in Loreto «but I wanted to bring here what I learned».

The return

And so a few years ago the opportunity to take over a pastry shop in Piazza Sant'Elena: "Making sweets is beautiful. I love cakes, because I always say, when you make a cake you create memories, because in front of that cake you will take a photo that will last forever. I think especially of photos of children. Who among us doesn't have a photo as a child in front of their birthday cake?"

Georgia Daga

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