In the center of the town of San Carlos there is a pizzeria that is a reference of the town and of all the pizza offered on the island. A social club of friends of all ages, origins, social classes, creeds and energies. Hippies next to currelas, guiris and locals, where differences are left at the door and inside there is only room for healthy and exquisite pizza, good vibes and quality music.
It is called Enfarinarte and in 2009 its founder Rocco Beschi (Montichiari, 1980) built it with his own hands and it ended up being more than he imagined; a social space that generated thousands of memories in the people who have visited it, even if it was only once.
-When do you arrive in Ibiza?
-In 2005, chasing a love. I was in love with a girl from my town that we were not even dating practically, a family friend, rebellious, fed up with everything and she tells me she is leaving and I tell her “and me with you”. And she tells me Ibiza and I say “what the fuck!” [risas].
-Why?
-The only thing I knew about Ibiza then was that there was a certain Italianness attracted by luxury, drug culture, basically superficiality and consumerism. All very grotesque…
-And you arrive at the island together?
Yes, by ferry from Barcelona in a 3-cylinder Opel. And when I arrived the girl kissed me for the last time, and immediately left me for another. Horrible, my first season was sad.
But then there is the vertigo of the new, new place, new people, new language… adventure is what it is all about. I met two Argentinian people from Cordoba who taught me Spanish and many Italians who are worth having as friends.
-What did you work on in the first season?
-As a kitchen assistant in a hotel in San Antonio, which offered an open buffet and we made a ridiculous amount of food and then, at night, we threw away 70% of it.
Then I met a sevillana and again, because I don’t learn, I went after the sevillana to Sevilla [risas]. I thought I would never come back. I wanted to travel the world, but I start working, I really like the girl and the city, and then in the same job I meet another girl who ended up being the mother of my daughter and with whom I ended up sharing my life for 10 years. But she wanted to come to Ibiza and…
-Wait, don’t tell me, you’re going back to Ibiza chasing love, aren’t you? [carcajadas]
-Yes, and I started working at Bon Sol in Cala Vadella where I learned the trade of pizza maker.
-And what was the trigger for setting up the pizzeria?
-In 2008 my grandfather Adelmo Farina died and left me some money as an inheritance. As I wanted to be a pizza maker when I was a child, my then wife and I started looking for a place that was not in the epicenter of seasonal tourism. We wanted something quieter, so we looked in the villages. And we loved San Carlos, plus it didn’t have a pizzeria. There were almost no locals in 2008 and it was pretty deserted. And with Las Dalias nearby it could give us some of that energy of originality, of alternative that we really liked. The first time we went to Las Dalias we fell in love with the vibe. And we felt that it was here and we started to work…
-I imagine that the most important thing of all was precisely the dough, how is the process to find that recipe with personality that can differentiate you from the rest?
-I had learned a couple of recipes in Cala Vadella, from my mentor Atilio, to whom I am deeply grateful for many things, but I wanted to do something different. The plan was to invent a dough that was healthier, lighter, more digestible, more hippie… sustainable and crunchy. Then it came to my mind to use whole wheat flour and I looked around the island and found flour from Mallorca. But I had so much work to do because I did it all myself, the carpentry work, the purchase of all the second hand machines, the painting, the building work too… and in the end I was two days away from opening and I had not prepared the dough [carcajadas] until 1 day before opening and in a few hours I had found what I wanted. The next day I gave away pizzas for a whole day and it was such a success that we did openings every year [risas].
-Why is it called Enfarinarte?
-First, because in Catalan it means to flour, also the art of flour and also to honor the surname of my grandfather who put up the money.
-Is the recipe always the same or has it changed over the years?
-I would tell you that it is always the same with some variations that are not very big because some pizza makers have passed and I always gave them a little freedom so that they have the dough they feel comfortable to work with and put their signature, within certain parameters, that is, whole wheat and organic flour, for example.
-Are you wary of the formula or not?
-No, I’m not obsessed with that. But I know that some pizza maker who has worked here set up a pizzeria with my dough without saying anything and others telling me, like my friend Leo in Valencia, I’m sure he has changed it by now, and others who have done it too. In that case it is almost an honor for me because he does it outside the island and because he is a good friend.
-What is the most delicious pizza you have ever eaten in your life and where?
-Oops, it’s a pizza that I always eat when I go to a village near Perugia. The style is “pala romana” and cut, thin, very light…. The pizzeria, in front of the church, which looks like it’s not worth anything, is amazing and it’s called“Pizza Krunch” .
-For you, the quality of the products is very important?
-Yes, a lot, and I always try to have products linked to the land Ibiza, we have started to use (not exclusively) mozzarella from milk from cows raised in Ibiza, in San Rafael to be precise, and the ingredients whether vegetables or sausages have to be of high quality. But also the drinks are important, here you will not find coca cola or soft drinks that are not organic, we have kombucha and organic beer produced in Ibiza… Natural wine from Aragon. There is beer and gluten free pizza too, quinoa and corn + rice. We also have Fainá based on organic chickpea flour in various flavors, which is something that is not well known in Spain.
-And what do you offer for dessert?
– Tiramisu always and now we also have Cannolis and Sfogliatelle napoletane.
-What is the most difficult thing about setting up a pizzeria?
The most difficult thing … [piensa] Handling the fear of failure because in my case I was risking everything I had. I don’t know about the technical level, but it was very difficult for me because I did everything myself.
-Are you a carpenter?
-No, handyman [risas]. This furniture where we are sitting is original from 2009 and here it is still here so, I didn’t do so bad! [risas] But look at the horizontal of the tables [muestra el “oleaje” que presentan las maderas y más risas], but this is part of the personality of the place.
-And what is the most difficult thing about running a pizzeria?
-Bureaucracy, which is increasing every day.
-Speaking of bureaucracy, I always heard that this street in front of your entrance was going to be pedestrianized, do you know anything else, because the threat has been going on for years?
-I heard that in 2009 when I opened the pizzeria but now I hear that it seems to be already approved even by Govern, so maybe… but I don’t obsess about it anymore, whenever it is, let it be.
-This place, which I know well, has always been a meeting point, a social club, a place where rich tourists mixed with hippies and working people, and besides the pizza, there has always been very good music. Am I doing well?
-Music unites and I have always tried to put together very eclectic playlists, with music of all kinds and from all over the world. Here you can listen to everything from classical music to cumbia, as long as it is of quality. I love music and I humbly believe I have good taste.
-You live austerely, do you cDo you consider yourself a hippie?
-No, I have flirted with the concept and may have considered myself as such at some point but no longer.
-How about this season, which the industry calls “weird”?
-It was very good for us. But mostly it was because for the first year we were open from noon. Also, I was very involved, while in other years I delegated almost everything to work on myself.
In summer we are open every day from noon to midnight, and now in winter the same but we are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
I have a very experienced and friendly team, and there is a very familiar atmosphere.
Is the pizzeria a fail-safe investment?
-No, absolutely not. There are millions of pizzerias in the world and on the island. Pizza is a food with a big profit margin, but it has to be made very well, with good dough that is leavened with time and quality ingredients. But right now I don’t think it is infallible, 10 or 20 years ago it was.
-Why not now?
-Because since the covid and now the war everything has gone up 30% and 40%, in summer I pay more for electricity than for rent. Mozzarella has gone up a lot and tomato… everything. So the margin is not what it used to be and it is easier to fail.
-Speaking of which, what did you think when they opened a pizzeria a few meters away from yours?
The first impression is that I didn’t like it at all, my sign is Aries [risas]. But it was a good motivation to move and upgrade. They say that competition is good for the market, for the customer, and so it was.
It’s also a different kind of pizza, but I haven’t tried it.
-Enfarinarte is like your son, would you be willing to sell?
-For a good chunk of money, yes. What is worth a plus for the emotional value. This has been in my plans for a long time, I would like to leave the hotel business which is very tiring, it has been 20 years already…
-You sell and open an onlyfans for example or you can sell photos of your feet which is very fashionable… [carcajadas]
Well no, I would love to change my life, in fact I am training to be a therapist tomorrow, so yes, I could sell it peacefully.
-Have you removed the wifi?
-Yes, enough, it hurts me to see people immersed in the screen instead of looking each other in the eyes and connecting, which is what humanity needs the most right now….
