The most starred prison restaurant in Italy

In March 2016 the New York Times published a piece by Jim Yardley entitled “Italian Cuisine Worth Going to Prison For”. 

Yardley recounted his dinner at InGalera and summarized the history of the restaurant thus: «It is difficult to imagine a more unlikely success than that achieved by this place, and it is equally difficult to imagine a more fascinating experiment in the rehabilitation of prisoners». Silvia Polleri, a restaurateur who founded and manages InGalera, said that it was by reading that piece in the New York Times that she discovered that her restaurant was unique in the world: «I knew that we were the only ones in Italy. I didn't know we were the only ones in the world." The name InGalera was Polleri's idea, and she also came up with the "subtitle": "The most starred prison restaurant in Italy".

InGalera: how the Bollate prison restaurant works

“The restaurant is technically located outside the Bollate prison and not in its detention area for security reasons. This allows anyone to eat there without having to leave any identity document" explains the director. “It is managed by the ABC cooperative in which prison inmates work, and was created in order to eliminate the stigma on certain topics”, first of all the possibility of seeing these people in a different light. As soon as you enter the Bollate prison you are accompanied by some stewards to the restaurant, where guests of the penitentiary facility will be waiting for you. The restaurant is modern and welcoming and the kitchen is managed by chef Davide (no surnames), who studied at Gualtiero Marchesi's professional school before his conviction. With him a team of 3 or 4 people, a maître and waiters. Only the sommelier is external because he has to handle the orders and because the inmates cannot have anything to do with alcohol. Prisoners who are allowed to carry out work activities outside without escort will work. Everyone has a salary, with a normal paycheck.

During the services Polleri goes around the tables to say the exact same things in front of the customers that he says in front of the camera in Rho: the restaurant exists because in Italy the average recidivism of prisoners is 70 percent, and it is «a shame for the entire society." But in Bollate, among the unfortunately very small sample of inmates who work at InGalera, that percentage drops to 17 percent. 

People hired on a regular contract work at InGalera, explains Polleri: this is the reason why their recidivism rate is so low, because what they do in there is worth just as much as what others do out there. And therefore the demands must be the same, the limits as well: a customer can complain about the food and the service, or compliment one another. And nothing else.