A small restaurant in the heart of Umbria’s most historic landscape. We are in Bevagna, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy — a cluster of houses enclosed within an intact medieval wall, leading to a magnificent square with an irregular layout and an unusually rich architectural ensemble, where three churches and a civic palace — now home to the theatre — stand side by side.
Just a few steps from the square, on the ground floor of a Renaissance palazzo, Chef and owner Vittorio Ottavi chose in 2014 to relocate his restaurant — both geographically and metaphorically. A move away from the outskirts of the village, yes, but also a departure from the traditional Umbrian path centered on meat-based dishes. And even though the sea does not reach this land, Vittorio Ottavi has found a way to bring it here, blending it with his own culinary DNA.
Born in 1986, Vittorio grew up in the kitchen of his parents, both restaurateurs and passionate lovers of good food.
His grandfather, in fact, was one of the historic "porchetta" makers of Bevagna and of all Umbria in the early 1900s — a passion and craft passed down through the generations.
Vittorio’s father, Marco, has always run an osteria just outside the historic center, serving traditional meat-based dishes. It is there that Vittorio grew up — driven by curiosity and determination.
Self-taught, Vittorio developed a passion for seafood techniques from a very young age, nurtured by memories of holidays spent in the Marche — flavors that soaked into his palate and intertwined with those of home. He embodies the vision of a chef who never left his land, yet continued to explore it by letting his mind travel elsewhere, toward the beloved stretches of sea from his childhood. His growth has also been shaped by exemplary chefs whose free and daring thinking he considers guiding influences, such as Uliassi and Pascucci. This is how Vittorio began interpreting seafood: with his feet firmly on the ground and his mind at sea, bringing the marine world into the countryside. Over the past year, his research has increasingly focused on treating fish as one would treat meat — through curing, aging, and pairings with local ingredients such as legumes and expressive products of the Umbrian territory.
A small restaurant in the heart of Umbria’s most historic landscape. We are in Bevagna, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy — a cluster of houses enclosed within an intact medieval wall, leading to a magnificent square with an irregular layout and an unusually rich architectural ensemble, where three churches and a civic palace — now home to the theatre — stand side by side.
Just a few steps from the square, on the ground floor of a Renaissance palazzo, Chef and owner Vittorio Ottavi chose in 2014 to relocate his restaurant — both geographically and metaphorically. A move away from the outskirts of the village, yes, but also a departure from the traditional Umbrian path centered on meat-based dishes. And even though the sea does not reach this land, Vittorio Ottavi has found a way to bring it here, blending it with his own culinary DNA.
His grandfather, in the early 1900s, was one of the historic porchetta masters of Bevagna and all of Umbria — a passion and craft passed down through the generations. Vittorio’s father, Marco, has always run an osteria just outside the historic center, serving traditional meat-based dishes, and it is there that Vittorio grew up, fueled by curiosity and determination. Self-taught, Vittorio developed a fascination for seafood techniques from a young age, inspired also by memories of summers spent in the Marche — flavors that imprinted themselves on his palate, blending naturally with those of home.
It is the vision of a chef who has never left his land, yet has continued to inhabit it by letting his mind travel elsewhere — toward the stretches of sea he loved as a child — and by studying exemplary chefs whose free and daring thinking became a source of inspiration, such as Uliassi and Pascucci. This is how Vittorio began interpreting seafood: with his feet firmly on the ground and his mind at sea, bringing the marine world into the countryside.
Over the past year, his work has increasingly focused on treating fish as one would treat meat — through curing, aging, and pairings with local ingredients such as legumes and other expressive products of the territory.
