The kitchen team at Casa Maria Luigia.Lido Vannucchi/Supplied
Preparation for breakfast at Casa Maria Luigia, a boutique bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Modena, Italy, starts at dawn, when it is still dark and foggy, and a light sheen of moisture sits on everything.
The first act of the day is lighting the fire in the large outdoor oven. It requires a practised hand to get the damp wood to ignite, but soon smoke curls skyward; beechwood for a lovely flame, oak and hornbeam to maintain the heat and create a nice ember, and cherrywood for its delicate flavour.
Only then is the head chef, Montreal native and self-taught fire master Jessica Rosval, ready to start feeding a procession of food into the big black beast.
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First is the cotechino, a rich, spicy sausage that gets pushed to the very back. Then the seasonal fruits and vegetables, so they can caramelize, followed by frittatas, the erbazzone (a traditional greens and herb-stuffed pie), and finally – when everything else is ready – two varieties of focaccias.
Chef Jessica Rosval in the garden of Casa Maria Luigia in Modena. She has been the culinary director there since 2019.Stefano Scatà/Supplied
Here, in this quiet, oft-forgotten corner in the Emilia Romagna region, Rosval has found her niche and the accolades from Italian food publications have poured in, including best chef of the year and best brunch of the year. In the five years since the “casa” (which means home) has been open, she has served Stanley Tucci tagliatelle al ragu (the actor shot an episode of his Searching for Italy docuseries here), entertained celebrities from Hollywood, fed European aristocrats and sated the appetites of foodies from around the world.
As the air fills with the scent of wood-fired savouries and sweets, guests staying at the 12-room country home start to emerge, eager to partake in a feast that pays homage to a region known as the breadbasket of Italy, home to culinary specialties such as Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, Parma ham, balsamic vinegar, Culatello salami and tortellini.
“Breakfasts around here have become a religious affair,” says Rosval, culinary director of Casa Maria Luigia since 2019, when celebrated Italian chef Massimo Bottura (who is from Modena) and his American wife, Lara Gilmore, opened the exquisitely restored 250-year-old villa. “The ritual of their preparation is precious, revered, not to be tampered with. Our goal here is to make our guests feel that this is their home away from home, so we feed them delicious food from this very special, peaceful place.”
So how did a 38-year-old woman who grew up in Montreal’s Dollard-des-Ormeaux end up in a region north of Tuscany, working for a three-star Michelin chef? The truth is by chance.
Rosval got the cooking bug when she worked part-time after high school at an Italian restaurant owned by Greeks. From there, she went to Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Quebec, and after graduating, went to work for Laurent Godbout at Chez L’Epicier in the Old Port of Montreal.
Rosval and her good friend Caroline Caporossi were given the Champions of Change award from the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, for their work helping migrant women integrate into the Italian community.Gloria Soverini/Supplied
In 2013, Rosval was executive sous chef at the Bearfoot Bistro, in Whistler, B.C., working with award-winning chef Melissa Craig. The two women clicked from the moment they met, and would often sit with a glass of wine after their shift, flipping through cookbooks written by their favourite chefs. One of them was Bottura, whose crazy dishes such as the Crunchy Part of the Lasagna or Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart, served at his famed flagship restaurant, Osteria Francescana, in Modena, were the talk of the culinary circuit.
Her boyfriend at the time was moving to Milan so Rosval decided it was time for a new adventure and followed him. Six days after landing in Italy – as a treat for herself for her 28th birthday – she managed to get a table at Osteria Francescana, whose 12-course tasting menu called “Vieni in Italia con me” (Come to Italy with me) blew her mind.
“I tasted things I had never tasted before,” says Rosval. “I got to experience Italy through the eyes of an Italian.” Then the unthinkable happened– the man himself strode out of the kitchen.”
“When he reached our table, I stood up in front of him and started blurting out my thoughts,” says Rosval. “I was a total fan girl.” Bottura, who has built an international culinary empire that stretches from Seoul to Beverly Hills, listened kindly. After the meal, he returned to her table with a small bottle of balsamic vinegar and his business card. He offered to help her find a job at a restaurant in Milan. The next day she sent Bottura an e-mail, asking to work in his kitchen.
As she and her boyfriend were walking home, they came across a sign that read: Just find the courage. The best part of the journey is tomorrow. “I said to my boyfriend, ‘It’s a sign.’ He said, ‘Yes, it’s a sign.’ But I’m like, ‘No, it’s a sign!’ ”
Bottura offered her a one-week trial, which led to a few weeks, and eventually stretched into six years. At the end of her tenure at Osteria Francescana, Rosval had worked her way up to chef de partie at the three-star Michelin restaurant, which has been named No. 1 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards twice, and now holds Best of the Best status.
Celebrated Italian chef Massimo Bottura, left, brought on Rosval when he restored and opened up the 250-year-old villa with his American wife, Lara Gilmore.Marco Poderi/Supplied
Craig, for one, is not surprised by Rosval’s meteoric rise. “She is the best sous chef I’ve ever had,” says Craig, now culinary director of the historic Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island. “It was a risky move for her taking off to Italy, but I never doubted she’d find her way. She can be quite persuasive. She is also a natural leader, so good at boosting staff morale and teaching them.”
In her 11 years spent in Italy, her leadership skills have been put to good use, first running all of Bottura’s international events and then overseeing the transformation of Casa Maria Luigia from a derelict manor house to a sought-after retreat.
At first, Rosval says she and the rest of the staff couldn’t figure out what they were going to do with a bed and breakfast. “We were all restaurateurs, night owls who thrive on fast-paced service, the adrenalin rush you get from the pressure of creating the best meal in the world in just three hours,” she wrote in Slow Food, Fast Cars, the recent book she penned with Bottura and Gilmore about the Casa ML journey.
She also could not imagine waking up at the crack of dawn. Ever.
However, as plans for the villa started to take shape, Rosval found herself spending more and more time there. The Canadian fell in love with this landscape of brick farmhouses, fields of alfalfa and wheat, and vineyards that grow the grape used to make lambrusco, a wine that tickles the tongue.
Then she found the outdoor oven, a gift to Bottura and Gilmore that had been languishing in a corner of the courtyard, and the seed for the fire-inspired breakfast menu was planted.
Casa Maria Luigia, which plays host to Hollywood celebrities, European aristocrats and foodies from all around the world.Stefano Scatà/Casa Maria Luigia
“Everything gets better here with age, the balsamic vinegar, the cheeses, the cured meats,” says Rosval. “It has taught me patience. Patience with myself. Patience with life. It has taught me to let things grow almost organically instead of rushing to the finish line.”
Guests of Casa Maria Luigia are treated like family. They pad around the home in their bare feet and help themselves to everything from creamy tiramisu and seasonal salads in the fridge to Parmigiano crackers and whipped ricotta with basil on the marble counter.
They wander refurbished barns filled with Ducatis and Ferraris, (fast cars are one of Bottura’s passions) or stroll through gardens with wood swings and sculptures. They listen to Bottura’s vast collection of vinyl records in the music room. And they admire contemporary art from the likes of Ai Weiwei, Tracey Emin and Joseph Beuys. (Gilmore is an art history major).
But mostly they come to savour the award-winning food, which Rosval and her kitchen brigade serve in the morning, a la carte throughout the day and in the evening when Casa Maria Luigia offers a nine-course tasting menu that recaps some of Osteria Francescana’s most iconic dishes. They also serve a fire-inspired tasting menu at Al Gatto Verde (the Green Cat), a newly opened eatery housed in a former stable on the grounds.
In the book, Bottura writes that Rosval was the perfect person to be host-extraordinaire at their beloved casa, named for his mother. “If there is a word that captures her essence, it is determination – that is her superpower. I have never seen her back down or bow out of a problem.”
Recently, she and her good friend Caroline Caporossi were given the Champions of Change award from the World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, for their work helping migrant women integrate into the Italian community. They set up Roots, a non-profit restaurant in Modena, that teaches these women how to prepare meals and run a small business.
”Food is something that connects all of us. It builds bridges between cultures,” says Rosval. “It creates memories. It nurtures us, and helps us grow.
“The last 10 years have been a wild, wild ride. Through it all we have been a tight-knit team. We are there for each other no matter what. We are family. I feel like I’m living a dream.”