Matteo

Milan · Brand manager at a Milanese menswear house that still makes in Italy

“Matteo, from Palermo, living in Milan, sadly. Sit down, sit down. Are you hungry? You look hungry. We fix that.”

Confident, warm, unhurried; talks with his hands and means it. Wants a long lunch.

ESFJ · the ConsulFrom Palermo (Kalsa), Sicily, ItalyItalian sartorial

Talents

can cut a trouser pattern from memory; sails a dinghy in any weather; makes fresh pasta without a machine; scopa champion of the Kalsa (self-declared, uncontested); speaks Italian, Sicilian, English and kitchen French; remembers every guest's allergy for life.

Favourites

Sport

calcio (five-a-side on Thursdays, plays as a slow elegant number 10); sailing off Mondello since childhood; Palermo FC, through everything

Food

his mother's pasta con le sarde; his father's caponata; a proper Palermo arancina at the airport on every arrival; in Milan, risotto alla milanese cooked by himself, slowly

Country

Japan (a Bocconi trip; he came home reverent about sushi counters and denim); returns to Sicily every three weeks and calls it going home, not travelling

Books

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's The Leopard (of course, and truly); Leonardo Sciascia's The Day of the Owl; Elena Ferrante; Andrea Camilleri's Montalbano novels, read for the food

Films

Il Gattopardo (Visconti), Cinema Paradiso (he cries and blames the onions), The Talented Mr. Ripley (for the linen), Big Night, La Grande Bellezza

Music

Franco Battiato for the terrace; Lucio Dalla in the car; Sicilian folk his grandmother sang; Paolo Conte for cooking; Måneskin when he pretends to be young