31-01-2023

Here we are again, back from our last trip,

ready to reopen the restaurant on 11th February!

We are very close! We will also be open for Valentine's Day, 13th and 14th February, so to ensure you get the best table, remember to book in time. Even now by clicking HERE.

Before returning to the kitchen and among the tables in our lake-view dining room, we couldn't miss SIGEP 2023: the most important italian trade fair for the foodservice industry. 
If you have been following us for a while, you know this: we are very curious and these occasions are a fantastic opportunity for us to learn and compare ourselves with other colleagues who are experts in the sector. We breathed in great enthusiasm: impressive stands dedicated to the various industry categories, many important guests, the right balance between business and entertainment, tastings, lots and lots of everything. 

But on the way to Rimini, we visited friends in Forlì and discovered that the hills in this area of Romagna are the most suited to Sangiovese. We tasted the best Sangiovese ever in Predappio, nestled in the green hills behind the Apennines. 

This is an area that is not much talked about for wine, but it is absolutely magnificent. The producers here are trying to go back to the beginnings, to the centuries-old history of the area:

Sangiovese was already being cultivated here in the 1700s!

After years where quantity counted more, today there is a return to valorising the quality of the vineyards and the typical peculiarities of this area.

The Azienda Agricola Pandolfa welcomed us at the end of an aristocratic cypress-lined avenue, where the Ricci family's historic villa stands. Inhabited to this day, they say it is haunted by a spirit... but it was here that we sat down, in a frescoed room, to taste a few bottles, with a platter of excellent salami and piada romagnola. The spectre did not bother us but to be on the safe side we left an extra place at the table.

The heirs of Noelia Ricci, owner of the villa, continue to cultivate their vineyards with great dedication. The Vigna Godenza, the highest in the area, overlooks the Apennines and the sea that not far away brings the right ventilation to these wonderful vines. The Sangiovese from this estate is elegant, refined. A clean taste, far removed from other, much better known vines....

In short, we often travel to places that everyone knows, but if we move a little further away from the more crowded destinations, we find magnificent discoveries just waiting to be appreciated!

- Alessandro