The warm colors of Van Gogh’s canvases brighten this rainy Saturday. I meet Nadia Frisina, Executive Chef of Six Senses Rome, after visiting the Dutch painter’s exhibition at Palazzo Napoleone. “The yellow of the wheat fields, the deep blue, the thick brushstrokes. He’s one of my favorite artists. Crazy, misunderstood, genuine,” Nadia tells me, greeting me with a warm hug. Sometimes coincidences feel like destiny. We comment on the portraits of the sowers, the farmers working the land. Art and cooking—I feel this will be a beautiful journey.
“I started this profession almost by chance, in Sicily, during high school. I’ve always had an independent spirit; I wanted to support myself.” From there, a meteoric career. “At 29, I became the youngest Italian Executive Chef.” The adrenaline of the challenge, the satisfaction of a prestigious achievement. Nadia faced a crossroads: finish her law studies or continue her chef career. The choice was clear. “My parents didn’t understand; they didn’t speak to me for a year. But I felt this was my path.”
People arguing over inheritance, money, property. In the law office, Nadia felt sad. “I needed colors. My guests gave them to me, with their stories and the world they carried with them. I’ve always felt a great responsibility toward them. Hosting is like opening the doors of your home. It’s in the daily joy of creating an emotion that I find the drive to keep going. If at the pass I imagine I’m cooking for you and your girlfriend, I lose my spark.”
“Many painters fear the blank canvas, but the blank canvas fears the truly passionate painter who dares.” I think back to Van Gogh’s words as Nadia tells me about her blank canvases: first the experience at a major hotel in Beijing, then in Macau managing the opening of new venues. “I was curious to discover Asian culture. I wanted to immerse myself in a world people were just starting to talk about. A bit like Van Gogh when he left his village and went to Paris to meet great artists and discover current trends. It was a life-changing experience.”
Asia, Amsterdam, then back to Asia. And Sicily? “I always carry it with me. Being authentic means showing who you really are, without masks. Anchored to my values and emotions. My dishes always have a bit of my land, citrus fruits above all. Cooking shouldn’t be self-referential. And it’s not enough for it to be comforting. It must be conscious and committed, convey values, educate.” For this reason, Nadia chose the Six Senses project, where sustainability accepts no compromises.
We go up to the newly opened rooftop. A thin red veil slowly falls over Rome’s damp sky. If you had a canvas, a brush, and a palette, how would you paint your idea of cooking? “Lots of yellow and blue. And the volcano. Me and Sicily. Maybe one day I’ll return to close this circle.”
It’s evening. The sky wears a robe of stars that illuminate Van Gogh’s words written beneath the sowers’ plaque. “I unequivocally feel that the story of men is like that of wheat. If you are not sown into the earth to sprout, you end up being ground to become bread.” Yes, Nadia’s story teaches that the secret to becoming the artist of yourself and painting your own masterpiece is to listen to yourself. Cultivate your talent, let it sprout, and share it. Recognize it in others and nurture it.
