Etiquette for the Third Millenium is a statement of position of polite people in relation to current society. It is a battle against fake news and online hackers. A return to the past to master the present and think of a future in which we get on well with others. This is Etiquette 2.0, with all the rules for being true contemporary gentlemen and gentlewomen.

Etiquette for the Third Millenium needs to be read because courtesy is still really fashionable and is highly infectious. A special retake on the famous Renaissance work by Monsignor Giovanni Della Casa, alongside “recipes for good manners in the current age” by different masters of elegance. One of these is Gualtiero Marchesi, the father of modern Italian cuisine,  and we provide you with a taster of our interview with him.

What type of genre is etiquette do you think? 
Universal

What are good manners today?
The opposite of bad manners. Situations change but the substance does not change. In fact, bad manners deteriorate in solitude, with unbridled and neurotic individualism.

An indispensable recipe for behaving with decorum during mealtimes…
Knowing and using the right cutlery at table. For example, the Italian fork, the one with the long prongs, for twisting the spaghetti. Using a spoon for risotto. I’ve designed one specially.

Can you give us other tips for being successful?
Water, depending on whether it is still, fizzy or slightly sparkling, has its own special glass. At dinner, the tables are laid for the evening, in black. I have decided that cutlery should not clutter the table, so I arrange it horizontally at the top only after the customer has decided. For bread, I prefer the guests to choose it and perhaps even help themselves. We serve, but without being servile. One of the secrets to the success of a restaurant is the rapport that it strikes up with the customer. The customer needs to be understood, we need to respond to his character or the mood he is in at a given moment. The byword is assist him, give the impression of wanting to get to know him without being intrusive. It is a real art.

The code to follow at table and in dealings with others  …
Simplicity! I remember a sentence of the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj: pure form is contemporary. What a lesson for all the people who complicate things inside and outside the kitchen!

Stilleben travel is a photographic collection of places we saw and we liked, in which we found ourselves or which inspired us.