Two Eateries in Italy Extolling the Magic of EVOO

At Filodolio — Cucina Extravergine, in the ele­gant Trieste neigh­bor­hood of Rome, extra vir­gin olive oil is the key ingre­di­ent and the star attrac­tion on the menu.

“Years ago, I was invited to a din­ner which started with an olive oil tast­ing ses­sion and I dis­cov­ered this extra­or­di­nary Italian excel­lence,” Stefano Donaudy, a for­mer cor­po­rate exec­u­tive now restau­ra­teur, revealed. ​“That’s why now at my place, cus­tomers have the oppor­tu­nity to start din­ner, lunch and aper­i­tif with a guided tast­ing and enjoy delight­ful pair­ings of food and extra vir­gin olive oils of the high­est qual­ity.”

Donaudy, with the idea of an extra vir­gin-cen­tric restau­rant started to study, became a taster and, just over a year ago with the col­lab­o­ra­tion of the Chef Filippo Artioli, cre­ated the styl­ish and warm Filodolio (the Italian way to say ​‘a drib­ble of oil’), which became a point of ref­er­ence for food­ies in Rome.

“The oil in the pot plays a fun­da­men­tal role and has the poten­tial to make a real dif­fer­ence, har­mo­niz­ing and enhanc­ing fla­vors, or destroy­ing them if mis­matched,” he said. ​“Here, the com­bi­na­tion of food with dif­fer­ent extra vir­gin olive oils is an inte­gral and char­ac­ter­iz­ing ele­ment, and each of our chef’s cre­ations is designed to host a spe­cific olive oil,” he pointed out as he intro­duced the 24-year-old chef, Alfonso Aquino.

“Extra vir­gin olive oil is a pil­lar of the Mediterranean diet where I get inspi­ra­tion for my cui­sine, which is also shaped by the Neapolitan tra­di­tion and enriched with palat­able inno­va­tions,” illus­trated the chef, who was born in Boscoreale at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, attended the culi­nary school in Roccaraso and trained with a cou­ple of Michelin-starred chefs.

“It was inter­est­ing to com­bine EVOOs with Aquino’s dishes, which are based on tra­di­tion and enhanced by intrigu­ing gus­ta­tory nov­el­ties, which made pair­ing even more enjoy­able,” noted the pro­fes­sional olive oil taster and som­me­lier Liana Davletsina, who con­ceived the matches with Donaudy.

“Inspired by Fabio Ferrara, an expe­ri­enced restau­ra­teur in Abruzzo, we are now try­ing var­i­ous blends with dif­fer­ent polyphe­nol con­tents dur­ing cook­ing, depend­ing on the type of prepa­ra­tion,” Donaudy added. ​“We are going beyond the use of a stan­dard EVOO when the food is on the stove, to take full advan­tage of chem­i­cal prop­er­ties and opti­mize their effect with an ad hoc use,” Aquino spec­i­fied.

Among the items on the menu, it is well worth try­ing the cut­tle­fish open ravi­olo, fla­vored car­bonara cream and crispy jowl with Origini of Oliocru; the Iberian piglet cheek with melt­ing onion and liq­uid esca­role with Emozione of Decimi; and the Ricotta di bufala mousse, pis­ta­chio di Bronte, green apple with Anfosso’s Taggiasca.

“It is amaz­ing to see this grow­ing inter­est in extra vir­gin olive oil,” Donaudy remarked. ​“And it is increas­ingly stim­u­lat­ing to spread the cul­ture of Italian extra vir­gin olive, which is a top-class prod­uct.”

In the heart of Florence, right in front of the Boboli Gardens, you can stop for a quick lunch or a din­ner with friends at Olivia. ​“The name of the restau­rant comes from the merg­ing of two words that indi­cates my loves, which are my daugh­ter Livia and olive oil,” revealed Serena Gonnelli, who brought the extra vir­gin olive oils pro­duced by the ancient fam­ily mill Santa Téa into a con­tem­po­rary food lab.

Good cui­sine, relaxed atmos­phere and con­vivial spaces are the fea­tures of this cozy place where rein­ter­pre­ta­tions of Tuscan dishes and intrigu­ing street food are enriched and enhanced by spe­cific com­bi­na­tions with the liq­uid gold orig­i­nat­ing in the Tuscan hills between Florence and Siena.

Gonnelli was born in Reggello, the home of a vast farm which includes sev­eral olive groves of native Tuscan vari­eties such as Frantoio, Leccino, Moraiolo, Correggiolo and Leccio del Corno man­aged in accor­dance with organic farm­ing and pressed at a milling plant which is among the old­est in Italy, belong­ing to her fam­ily since 1585.

“At home, we always had sev­eral bot­tles of EVOO in the kitchen and on the table, and at one point I wanted to guide other peo­ple through a sen­sory expe­ri­ence with our prod­ucts,” said Gonnelli, explain­ing her idea of a place where cus­tomers can learn some­thing more about qual­ity, while enjoy­ing them­selves at the din­ner table.

“Therefore, I devised a for­mat of infor­mal cui­sine based on extra vir­gin olive oils from Santa Téa’s mill,” she explained. ​“Moreover, with a view to recre­at­ing the com­fort­able atmos­phere of our farm, I designed fur­nish­ings by rework­ing ele­ments of the Tuscan coun­try­side.”

“Olivia’s styling recalls the world of oil pro­duc­tion, repro­duced in the mill­stone-table made up of cement and crushed olive pits and in the lamps made with the nets for the col­lec­tion of olives.”

On two large con­vivial tables and smaller coun­ters ded­i­cated to cou­ples, the restau­rant serves foods with EVOO in their hearts. Each plate has been stud­ied to enhance the cor­rect com­bi­na­tion with a dif­fer­ent line of prod­uct. Bruschetta, sal­ads, soups and desserts are enriched by a selected olive oil drib­ble, which is also used dur­ing cook­ing of fried foods and fresh pas­tas.

Olivia wants to offer its cus­tomers the health­ful prop­er­ties of olive oil, enhanc­ing them through dif­fer­ent types of prepa­ra­tions, such as the fried cod pre­pared with the extra vir­gin olive oil La Pieve, the olive oil cream stuffed pac­cheri and toasted bread on pecorino di Pienza fon­due with the organic blend line, and deli­cious desserts such as the ice cream donut with an olive oil drib­ble at your choice.

Filodolio
Via Tripolitania, 147
Rome 00199

Olivia
Piazza Pitti 14r
Firenze 50130