Ricardo Bracamonte

21 years old, Italian-Venezuelan from Caracas, pastry chef, former R.O.P.A. student at CAST.

Ricardo was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where he made the difficult decision to leave his family and follow his grandfather to Italy in search of a better future. He found it in Pescara, a city in the Abruzzo region that welcomed him and where he enrolled in a hospitality school. There, he met a teacher and mentor who helped guide his talent and determination in the right direction.

His first key step was joining CAST as a ROPA program student. A year working alongside master chefs gave him clarity about his path: he wanted to become a well-rounded pastry chef, whether in a pastry lab or a restaurant kitchen.

Ricardo is passionate about classic pastry, but he adds a creative twist that surprises. He explores flavor combinations, plays with textures, and brings his creations to life with vibrant colors. Chocolate, in particular, holds a special place for him—something he explored further during his internship at Selmi. For Ricardo, it’s more than a passion; it’s a deep connection to his South American roots.

He’s currently gaining experience as a pastry chef de partie at the restaurant of Borgo Pignano, a luxury relais in Tuscany, and as a pastry chef at Café Les Paillotes in Pescara, owned by the De Cecco family and overseen by Heinz Beck.

He’s eager to explore opportunities abroad, especially the innovative and boundary-pushing pastry scene in Spain. He’s also drawn to the technical and experimental side of R&D within the industry. In short, anything and everything related to pastry fascinates him. Let’s see where the journey takes him. Stay tuned.

The value of things lies in the effort it takes to create them.

INTERVIEW

As a scholarship student at CAST, you had the chance to work with masters from many areas of gastronomy. Why did you choose pastry in particular?
As my teacher at hospitality school used to say, in the kitchen you need to taste everything. That’s exactly why I leaned toward pastry—because savory dishes never really intrigued me. This was one of the reasons why, during my time at CAST, which Director Santoro calls the “school of culinary arts,” I chose to focus on working with pastry masters. Pastry is all about precision; it’s chemistry and physics at the core of every recipe. Once you learn how to control those, it’s hard to get the result wrong.

Tell us about your experience at Selmi and what working with chocolate means to you.
It was a truly formative experience, both in terms of learning to use the machines and in deepening my understanding of chocolate. When we visited Selmi with CAST for a company tour, I immediately fell in love with the place. Then I found out they offered internships through their internal school, so I got in touch right away.

What I loved most about the Selmi school is the family-like environment—every chef is ready with advice or constructive feedback to help you grow professionally. The most interesting part for me was doing product testing. When a chef asks if you want to help test a machine or try it out with product samples sent by companies—like nuts or cocoa beans for roasting—you learn a lot, seriously.

And then there’s the chocolate itself. Working with such a beautiful raw material is incredibly satisfying for me. When I temper chocolate by hand, I feel calm—it’s a kind of peace that’s hard to explain. I’m fascinated by everything related to chocolate and the bean-to-bar world. What I love about bean-to-bar is the ability to personalize chocolate, playing with flavors and aromas to create something entirely new.

Take someone like chef Gianluca Fusto, a professional I deeply admire. He has this incredible ability to balance unexpected flavors in chocolate. I once tasted one of his pralines made with porcini mushrooms and Sarawak pepper—my reaction was just “wow!” That, to me, is what pastry is all about: challenging yourself, exploring new flavors and ingredients, and making them fit together in a way that’s both precise and surprising.

Is there a particular style that defines your pastry work?
I really enjoy using color, but always in a subtle, never over-the-top way. To reflect my roots, I often incorporate exotic fruits—they bring a unique, fresh balance to the palate. At the same time, I love working with seasonal fruits and highlighting local ingredients, or in general, anything that enhances both the taste and the visual aspect of a dessert.
But at the core, what I always say is: when someone tastes one of my creations, I want them to say “wow!” I think my style is about 70% flavor and 30% visual impact.

Do you have a pastry chef you look up to or follow on social media?
There are many, but two in particular really inspire me. One is chef Fusto, as I mentioned earlier, for his fearless creativity and constant search for new ingredients. The other is chef Forcone—I think he’s truly GREAT. He’s incredibly focused on innovation, even when it comes to technology. And the way he shares his knowledge and his passion for this craft is simply unmatched.

What memories do you have of your training period at CAST?
I always say that I entered CAST as a boy and came out a man. What I mean is that I arrived right after hospitality school, and I left as a true professional. It’s something I’m proud of, and I always smile when I talk about it because CAST isn’t just where you shape your skills—it’s where you build your professional family.

CAST taught me so much: discipline, structure, and a real sense of responsibility. If I could go back, I’d do it a hundred thousand times over. It’s amazing how much you can learn in just one year, both technically and practically. Even managing the labs was a huge lesson—just being in charge of incoming goods for a week teaches you how to deal with suppliers, check delivery slips, and handle logistics. These are essential skills if you ever want to open your own place.

Of course, there were great days and others when everything felt overwhelming, with a thousand things to do. But we always supported each other to get the job done. That’s what I mean when I say CAST is like a family: you spend a whole year together, fully focused on learning, and you all share the same goal—to walk out ready to take on the world with everything you’ve learned.

What are your plans for the future?
I have a lot of plans, but right now my priority is gaining experience. I want to travel and discover different cultures. One of my dreams is to go back to Venezuela and visit the cacao plantations—to reconnect with the country where I was born, which I had to leave for political reasons, and return to the land of my grandparents.

I want to explore new ingredients and flavors, and then, before I turn 35, I hope to open my own place. A pastry shop where I can bring together everything I’ve learned from around the world—skills, ideas, and flavors—and turn it into something truly my own.