Tag: Hospitality

wine, aromatic herbs, oil and hospitality in the Ligurian hinterland – Italian Cuisine

They produce Pigato, have a widespread farmhouse with apartments in the village of Bastia and soon a restaurant. To discover Liguria, and meet a family with 4C.

The history of the Vio family is the history of many Italian peasant families, but theirs has a happy ending. The Vio family has been cultivating for three generations in the Albenga plain, an area with an excellent microclimate and fertile soil, where the first fruits were once grown and then arrived in the stalls of the northern gardeners. Then Italy changed, the small shops were replaced by supermarkets and fruit and vegetables began to travel for thousands of kilometers, crossing national borders. But while many chased higher yields and safer harvests, looking for answers in foreign pesticides and crops, they went the other way. Today they cultivate aromatic herbs and produce olive oil and wine, all strictly organic. "The use of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers is not part of the local tradition and we have done nothing but continue with the habits of the past. Cultivating organic is not a technical or economic choice: it is simply cultural ", explains Aimone Giobatta who, together with his wife Chiara, has always believed in organic, obtaining certification in 1989 and the land since 1999. Today together with his daughters Caterina, Camilla and Carolina manage theBioVio company, from the harvest to the daily packaging of aromatic herbs, the vineyard and cellar, from the welcome in the farmhouse to the future restaurant that is about to be born.

The intuition of aromatic herbs

Starting from Bastia, the headquarters of the company, aromatic herbs are grown in the ingauna plain while going up the valley that follows the Arroscia course to reach Ranzo and the high lands of the province of Imperia, vineyards and olive groves have always been worked on. «Wild thyme, sage, rosemary grow spontaneously here. The Ligurian climate and land are perfect for herbs, they have a more intense aroma and flavor. These are aromas that once the gardener gave you, but when supermarkets were born my father began to convert the company from horticultural to aromatic herbs and to pack them to sell them in large distribution: sage, rosemary, thyme, mixed bunches, dowry for the broth … , says Camilla, who today takes care of the administration. "My father was a visionary: herbs are the backbone that allowed us to dream, to plant new vineyards, to create our own label, to preserve the olive grove. While everyone was leaving the hills towards the sea, we invested here .

The award-winning Pigato

«We make wine in the vineyard, not in the cellar. We have taken up vines such as pigato, which were vinified at home for family consumption and not much appreciated , says Caterina, the eldest of the sisters and winemaker. "Here wine was not a product to be sold, people lived on oil and vegetables and therefore grapes were only for self-consumption. We, on the other hand, believed in local varieties, in the typical characteristics of the vine and in the territory . Quality wine in Liguria is a concept of the last twenty years and Vio is one of those labels that has contributed to this rebirth, with bottles that have earned great recognition thanks to the integration with tourist hospitality. Aimone Vio was awarded Winemaker of the year 2017 from Gambero Rosso guide and their Bon in da Bon 2017, a Pigato Doc, he earned three glasses according to the Gambero Rosso Wine Guide 2019. The Grand Père certainly deserves a mention, a Pigato Doc processed according to the old vinification that was made on white wines by fermenting the wine in contact with the skins without adding selected yeasts, with 10 months of aging in tonneaux. And then there is the 4C, named after the four women of the house, who share the initial of the name – a 100% Rossese di Campochiesa rosé. “We work as natural as possible and have just launched an organic Pigato without sulphites,” explains Caterina. During the visit to the cellar you can also taste and buy theTaggiasca monocultivar extra virgin olive oil, collected in the centuries-old olive groves of the lands of Ranzo in the Arroscia valley, 350 m above sea level.

The widespread agritourism

In 40 years in Bastia, every time the town became depopulated, they bought abandoned houses to make them a widespread agritourism, where they could feel at home. Where to feel in the Liguria of the past. Or perhaps that of the future. At guests' disposal there are eight delightful apartments furnished with old grandmother's furniture. They can be rented for a couple of nights or the whole week and, if desired, with the addition of a breakfast Ligurian style prepared by mother Chiara together with Carolina, who takes care of the farm and who is working on the family's latest project: the opening of a real restaurant with which to rediscover Ligurian cuisine; that we actually know very little. «Ligurian cuisine is little known beyond the stereotype of pesto and focaccia, but which has many influences: sea, land, France, Sardinia, and the trade route that passed from Genoa to Piedmont. Stay tune.

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Combo, a shared hospitality project – Italian Cuisine

The hostel that reinvents the concept of hospitality will open in a few days: dedicated to all globetrotters, to those looking for a space to think, to create, to take a break, to listen to music. Also to eat

216 beds, 61 rooms, 7600 m2 of internal surface, 1000 of external surface, a former fire station (abandoned for more than twenty years and then occupied), now transformed into a modern and super hi-tech hostel , a space that reinvents the concept of hospitality.
We are talking about Combo, the new project of the Turin businessman Michele Denegri, born from his vision. Before Turin, Venice and Milan opened, in order, but in the near future there will be other openings (for the moment only in Italy): Bologna, Rome, Verona, then Palermo and Naples.

How the hostel works

The complex, which dates back to 1883, abandoned for more than 20 years, has been redesigned thanks to the work of architect Ole Sondresen and interior designer Helga Faletti with an accurate and conscious recovery intervention.

The reception rooms are located on the first and second floors of the Corso Regina Margherita building and can be private or shared, from 2 to 7 beds, mixed and female. Not only bedrooms, but also suites and 1 16-bed loft. A bed costs an average of € 25, depending on the time of year. Every two people has a bathroom, each bed has its own space for storing clothes and personal items, bedrooms and shared spaces, but privacy is guaranteed for everyone. From the website it is possible to book rooms and additional services.
Breakfast is not included, buffet formula € 8 (if purchased on the site € 6) and a small breakfast proposal for € 3 with juice, coffee and croissants.

Among the shared spaces there is a kitchen that is always open and available to hostels, where you can prepare meals from breakfast to lunch, a snack or a dinner, if you do not want to use the Combo restaurant and cafeteria service. Who lives in the hostel has a 10% discount on administration services, on all drinks.
The heart of the structure is the large room on the ground floor, 2500 square meters between inside and outside, a restaurant, a cafeteria, a little lounge, a little coworking, open to everyone from 7 in the morning until late in the evening, to work, but also to feel at home, to have a chat, to read and study.

It seems to be in a hotel, but it is a hostel with all the comforts: in addition to the shared kitchen also a laundry room with dryers, a place to iron the linen. On each floor there are common services with showers and steam showers.
Accommodation type, the Double room, perfect solution for a family of 4, cost of the tatami room double 80 + € 60 for the additional room (communicating), a private lounge, comfortable and spacious at the cost of a hotel room.

Who is Combo for?

The hostel caters to everyone, without distinction: from students to sportsmen in the city for gatherings; but also for couples who want a central, yet quiet accommodation, for team building companies, for school tourism, for people from Turin, not only travelers.
Combo is art and music, with many dedicated projects, including exhibitions and resident artists who will arrive to operate within the hostel, and an important partnership with Artissima. In short, many initiatives.

Combo is not just a new hostel, it was not born with the intention of redeveloping an area of the city that at times seems to be a bit complicated to manage, but wants to be a real community that exchanges ideas, cultures, recipes, foods , who wants to bring people from all over the world together, who do not close their doors, but open them to the neighborhood, to its inhabitants, to the city, to tourists. A place of inclusion in the place that has made inclusion its philosophy, a place of shelter where there is the largest open-air market in Europe, which mixes cultures, foods and languages, one place for many voices.
Official opening on Monday 20th January. Stay tuned for many nice news coming soon.
Combo
Corso Regina Margherita 126-128

Ana Ros's other Caporetto: Hiša Polonka, beer and hospitality – Italian Cuisine

What to do, where to sleep, eat and feel good in Caporetto, the city of Slovenia's most famous chef

It is said that where today there is Hiša Franko, Ernest Hemingway wrote the novel during the First World War Farewell to Arms. Whether this is legend or reality is unknown, but what is certain is that the story of Hiša Franko begins well before and extends far beyond the walls of this restaurant.
Caporetto in the jargon of us Italians is Waterloo and Pearl Harbor, synonymous with defeat. For the Slovenians "it was a Caporetto" means victory. Today, a hundred years after the Great War, Kobarid (Caporetto) has not stopped fighting, but the trenches are very green pastures and the fight is for the preservation of an Alpine economy and sustainable tourism. Also thanks to the award-winning Hiša Franko restaurant, Kobarid has become a point on the international tourism map, growing double-digit for visitor flows and is a case history of territorial marketing.

Hiša Franko, one of the best restaurants in the world

Hiša (alias home) Franko was built in 1868, but it was only in 1973 that Franko Kramar bought this inn in Staro Selo, a suburb of Kobarid and made it a famous tavern throughout the area thanks to soups, ravioli, goulash and hearty local dishes. In 1999 his son Valter and his young girlfriend Ana took over the management: he, a sommelier, was in the room; she, a graduate in International Sciences with no experience in the kitchen. Ana Roš she was elected best cook in the world in 2017, earned an episode of the documentary Chef's Table on Netflix, 38th place in the ranking of The Worlds 50 Best Restaurants 2019. Today at Hiša Franko there is a double shift for dinner for 35 covers at a time. Sold out, months before, for € 150 excluding wines. Haute cuisine interests less than 1% of the world's population, 70 covers per day don't make history, but ended up on the pages of newspapers around the world, but yes. People need heroes and Ana has awakened the entire nation to the media, inspired a new generation of young chefs, showed how much her green land had more than lakes and potatoes to offer.

Hiša Polonka, the kitchen of Hiša Franko as he was

As Hisa Franko became what it is today, a temple of fine dining, frico, polenta, goulash and traditional dishes came out of the menu together with the customers of the past, replaced by American and Scandinavian viewers, lovers of natural wines. "I didn't want the memory to disappear, no one would eat these dishes anymore. They are family memories, "says Valter. «Like roast beef, in English, pink in the middle. My mother was the first to do it here in the area. Raw meat? At first it seemed strange, but it has been on the menu since 1975 for 45 years . Today he came back from Hiša Polonka, trattoria in the center of Kobarid which serves i traditional dishes and recipes from Valter's mother, roast beef included. The kitchen works non stop from lunch to dinner, and people come in for a dish, a coffee or a beer, which is a real specialty of the place. There are those who do the double, and book in both restaurants, but most are local customers looking for a hamburger (the only exception to the rule of tradition, but local beef), tourists on bicycles, families. Paper place mats and dishes from € 5 of bruschetta with ricotta cheese and candied tomatoes for € 15 for a venison goulash with bread and potato soufflé. In the kitchen and in the living room, kids from the surroundings, like all the ingredients used in the dishes, such as milk and the cheeses of the Latteria Sociale Palanika.

Feo beer and night hospitality

Hiša Polonka is just one of the projects born of Hiša Franko and the mind of Valter. FEO is the name of the craft brewery born together with the partners Simon Konavec and Amadej Kofol. The name is inspired by the Slovenian poet Ivan Volarič Feo, who all knew here and now that he has disappeared, they want to remember him as he would have liked: with a drink. They produce five or six beers in the sheds behind the social dairy, also using Slovenian hops, and can be tasted not only at Hiša Polonka but also in other restaurants in the area. In Caporetto Hiša Franko also means hospitality, and not only in the large house, in the rooms above Ana's restaurant. Next to Hiša Polonka a small guest house was born, managed by the trattoria, with simple and clean apartments and rooms. A few kilometers away, in Livek, in the panoramic area of the valley, his family runs Nebesa: an alpine mini-resort with four design chalets also finished in magazines across the world: but those of architecture.
Since the winners make history and overcome morality, we can allow ourselves to say that doing excellence, or luxury, does not only serve to épater le bourgeois. It makes induced, but above all it makes tendency, and so it gives the good example.

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