News

Letter: Star investor’s ‘fritto misto’ had me reading the runes

As a stockbroker engaged with the unlikely task of promoting Italian equities to international investors in the 80s and 90s, I was lucky enough to have regular conversations with Baillie Gifford’s James Anderson. Perhaps, because of his experience as a student in Bologna, he too enjoyed the virtues of the few promising Italian companies available at the time.

I am unsurprised by his huge achievements, and feel he fully deserves the privilege and luck of a lunch at Cesarina (Lunch with the FT, April 16). Still, his decision to honour the occasion by ordering a fritto misto instead of the more appropriate tagliatelle (congrats to the FT journalist for selecting the latter) is a scandal.

Or given Anderson’s record, is he anticipating just another source of disruption, with seaside food replacing the most iconic dish of Bologna — a city hosting the world’s most ancient university and a global capital of food culture?

Nicola Ricolfi
Milan, Italy

Letter in response to this letter:

Spurning the FT Lunch’s usual bevvy gets my vote / From Sally Turff, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, UK