I grew up in the square, at the market, my dad was a very good fruit and vegetable trader and every day he went around the countryside of Foligno, my hometown, “collecting” the freshest and tastiest fruits of the earth.

It was the 1960s, and my father, perhaps unknowingly, was a forerunner of the km0.
This contributed greatly to the spirit of seeking out and valuing all that is extraordinary about my region.

During my studies I continued to help my dad, then, just before graduating with a degree in economics, I started working for a regional agribusiness promotion agency and later for a wine tourism promotion consortium.
It is during these more than ten years of work that the knowledge for the food and wine products of my land has been further enriched with relationships, discoveries, stimuli.

I had a dream in the drawer, but by dint of flipping, flipping through magazines and jotting down ideas, menus and images, the drawer became too small a space, so I opened a take-out wine shop with restaurant space where everything is Umbrian.

A trip downtown in search of the right place, and here on Via dei Priori, one of the most important streets in the center, comes this charming two-story eatery. Rough wood on the floor, ancient vaults and exposed beams on the ceiling, walls that tell of centuries and centuries of life spent in these ancient rooms.

So here is where my story goes back to my father’s: I no longer sell fruits and vegetables, but the most interesting and most enjoyable part of my job continues to be to seek out, taste, and get to know the places and the people who produce, with artisanal craftsmanship, the products that you then find on your plate, in your glass, on the shelf of my two taverns and now also online.

– Alexander Casciola