Liffo Cooking Night at the Lega Navale di Lerici: three Ligurian recipes born from tradition.

July evening on the Gulf of Poets

There's a moment, in summer, when the gulf of Lerici takes on a light that words can't quite capture. The air smells of salt and pine, the boats sway gently in the cove, and Piazza Mottino fills with voices. On 18 July 2026, that square hosted the first Liffo Cooking Night at the Lega Navale di Lerici: an evening born to talk about real cooking — the kind rooted in the land — and to discover how artificial intelligence can become its keeper and its ally.

Two different voices led the evening, united by the same passion. Bernardo Ratti, an expert in Lerici cuisine and a deep connoisseur of the gulf's culinary tradition, brought decades of memory and research. Massimiliano Delsante, Founder and co-CEO of Liffo, told the story of the company and the idea behind it. And between them, cooking live, was Liffo.

Bernardo Ratti's story: a cuisine that is poor only in appearance

Bernardo Ratti opened with a gentle provocation: "Lerici cuisine is Genoese cuisine. And Genoese cuisine is anything but poor." It sounds like a paradox, for a rugged land squeezed between the Apuan Alps and a sea that never gave anything away easily. And yet it is precisely from this harshness that Liguria's most profound dishes are born.

The land taught people to waste nothing and to turn every ingredient into something extraordinary. Soups of sea and earth, stuffed vegetables where a little breadcrumb becomes a sumptuous filling, and above all that distinctly Ligurian ability to unite sea and land in a single dish. Seppie in zimino — cuttlefish stewed with chard — are the perfect example: molluscs from the gulf cooked with greens from the hinterland, a pairing that tells the story of an entire landscape.

Then there's the ciuppin, the soup fishermen once made with whatever was left in the nets, which over time became a cult dish. And the brandacujun, stockfish whipped with potatoes and extra-virgin olive oil — an irreverent name and an unforgettable flavour.

But Ligurian cuisine has never stood still. It learned to draw from distant seas and lands: zemin, of Middle Eastern influence; stockfish and salt cod from Northern Europe; even the curry brought by Genoese merchants along the routes of the Levant. All the way to pesto, that happy synthesis of basil, garlic, pine nuts and cheese. A tradition this rich and layered deserves to be safeguarded — and, why not, entrusted to a tool capable of carrying it into the future.

An idea born at dinner: the story of Liffo

This is where Massimiliano Delsante took the floor. Liffo was born three years ago from a blank sheet of paper, but the idea comes from much further back: over ten years ago, at a dinner among friends, the host spent the entire evening in front of her kitchen robot preparing food for her guests — present, yes, yet never really with them. From that scene came an insight, kept in a drawer for years: what if technology could give people back their time, instead of stealing it?

That's where Liffo begins — your intelligent personal chef: you load the ingredients, set the time and head out; when you're back, the dish is ready. After telling this story and answering the guests' questions, Massimiliano let the facts speak: in the square, it was Liffo that cooked, live, two of the evening's recipes — the seppie en zemin and the brandacujun.

The three Ligurian recipes born with Liffo

Three recipes came out of the evening, perfect to recreate at home with Liffo.

Seppie en zemin

The great sea-and-land classic of Lerici cuisine — fresh cuttlefish slowly cooked with chard, tomato and a fragrant soffritto. Liffo's gentle, controlled cooking brings out the tenderness of the mollusc without ever drying it out.

Ceci en zemin

The vegetarian version of zemin, in which chickpeas soak up all the flavours of the vegetables and aromatic herbs. A dish that proves how complete Ligurian cuisine can be even without animal protein.

Brandacujun

Soaked stockfish, potatoes, Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil and plenty of patience in whipping it to that texture that is creamy and rustic at once. Bernardo Ratti described how every Lerici family has its own version: Liffo's is faithful to tradition.

Thank you to the Lega Navale di Lerici

An evening this beautiful doesn't happen on its own. Our sincere thanks go to the Lega Navale di Lerici and its Secretary Maurizio Moglia, who opened the doors of Piazza Mottino with generosity and with that elegant discretion typical of places steeped in history. Without their hospitality, the Cooking Night would have had neither that light nor that atmosphere.

And now it's your turn

Centuries of Ligurian cooking — of trade routes, of hard work and of beauty, can now enter your kitchen with a single, simple gesture. The three recipes are already available: try the seppie en zemin on a Friday evening, the brandacujun for a different kind of Sunday, the ceci en zemin whenever you want something warm and deep without too much fuss. Your intelligent personal chef is ready. And so is Ligurian tradition.