In Piediluco, just a few minutes from Terni, there is a little lake-front restaurant where a Sicilian family brings real seafood cuisine to the locals.
Ristorante Sud
Michele Dragotto and Angela Cinoffo arrived in central Italy from Palermo, to start fresh with a business they were already familiar with in sunny, but complicated, Sicily. Alongside them, the lives of their two sons changed considerably. Claudio, the youngest, is about to become a sommelier, he takes care of the wines at Ristorante Sud (a branch of the Terrazze di Piediluco brand) with a style and nonchalance that is not easy to find in a 23-year-old, while his father is in the kitchen and his mother looks after hospitality in the dining room.
The restaurant
Le Terrazze di Piediluco is a very appropriate name for this restaurant, boasting two outdoor spaces with a view. From there you can enjoy a serene and relaxing panorama overlooking the town's lake. The restaurant has two dining rooms, each one completely different from the other. The entrance is via a flight of stairs passing to the side of the first terrace, leading into the first room, cosy and bright, which has the classic appearance of a “trattoria,” run from generation to generation. Coloured curtains on the windows, a few tables set tidely and without frills, and maritime decorations on the walls make one think of a typical southern seaside osteria.
Passing under an archway where the hooks for attaching boats stand out, heritage of a past when the fresh waters of the lake reached as far as under the restaurant, you enter the dining room on the upper floor, where the Ristorante Sud is located, with a more formal feel while maintaining a certain simplicity.
Larger tables, long white tablecloths and a minimalist décor makes you appreciate that much more the refined cuisine you are about to taste. And the details: water glasses in shades of blue and green, perfectly matching the colors of the lake that can be seen from the windows and the upper terrace. Finally, this ambience also hosts a private space, or almost: a very small room that holds a table where six people can enjoy their meal in a more intimate setting.
The kitchen
The kitchen of Le Terrazze is run by only three people; Michele Dragotto, who in addition to being the owner of both the niche restaurant and a larger restaurant and pizzeria in the centre of Terni, is also a chef. He is just over 50 years old and has worked in this sector for over 30 years. "I remember when I opened my first business; it was on the 1st of January 1989. Since then, I have always been involved in the catering business and the kitchen has become my natural environment.” Le Terrazze di Piediluco opened in 2014 with a mission: to introduce the wonders of seafood and Sicilian cuisine to a region that is more accustomed, by tradition, to eating meat dishes.
This is the strength of the restaurant: when you sit down at the table in a small restaurant very close to Terni, the general expectation when reading the menu is to find a wide selection of earthy dishes and great classics of Umbrian food and wine culture, but no. “The products we use are all made in Italy, and many come from my region. The fish is at its freshest and, in addition to seafood, we also prepare various dishes based on freshwater fish to pay homage to our local territory."
Sea and lake, and a lot of Sicilian culture, for a truly refined and carefully prepared proposal, both in the product and in the presentation, also thanks to the two young people who complete the brigade. Both from Umbria, with interesting work experiences, one in the far north and the other on the opposite side of the Italian Peninsula. David Di Mei is 25 years old and well prepared. After graduating with a three-year degree in gastronomic sciences, he attended the prestigious Alma cooking school and arrived, through his friend Alessio (the kitchen colleague we will talk about in a moment) at the Terrazze di Piediluco, but only for the summer season. The time to stop has not yet come, David is eager and proud to get to know a vast sector in depth. He arrived in Taormina and was welcomed into the kitchens of the Four Seasons. A year later he oversaw the antipasti section and in November his efforts were rewarded with the Michelin Star.
After the moment of glory, however, Davi who’s very young and talented, ready to conquer the kitchens of restaurants around the world, chose a different path, the one that lead home. He returned to Terni, the exact place where he had started his career a few years earlier. “I chose to return to Umbria because this region has so much to offer, an untapped potential that I think it is ready to be explored. Initially, it may be met with a sceptical public, but something is changing. My experiences in other regions helped me realize the value of origins and the importance of this project, which is growing day by day but with a really solid foundation."
Always luxury hotel catering, but decidedly less sunny, is where Alessio Pantalloni, the latest member of the Piediluco kitchen group, comes from. An ambitious young man who left to grow his experience but decided to return to his hometown to launch himself into a new challenge. "I have worked in Trentino Alto Adige and the most interesting places I have been to that have allowed me to grow professionally are the Bio Hotel Ermitage and Villa Heden in Merano." These are hospitality establishments that have received Michelin awards, but Alessio, like David, also had a desire to pay homage to his region. "I returned to Umbria and joined the kitchen team of La Chiaracia in Castel S. Giorgio, a hotel with a spa, also five-star." Then he returned home, in Terni, to begin another chapter at Terrazze Di Piediluco under the expert and safe guidance of Michele, who spent his life in the kitchen.
The dishes
The sea and the lake are the soul of the dishes of this restaurant near Terni, satisfying the senses. If one sits down without knowing what is coming, a bit of confusion due to the absence of Umbrian meat-based dishes could be expected. The lower dining room is more like a trattoria, simple yet tasteful, but in the upper floor the courses take a fine dining twist, and everything is consistent with the restaurant's core identity. We begin with a double tasting of extra virgin olive oil, one Umbrian and the other Sicilian, to immediately mark the connection between the region of origin and that acquired by the owner. Bread and breadsticks are made in house and the saffron bread with “timilia” or “tumminia” flour, an ancient Sicilian grain, is soft, rustic, and delicate at the same time: perfect to be enjoyed with olive oil.
With the first starter we take a dive in the southern sea: The Sicilian “ficazza,” is unforgettable, a tuna sausage that was made from fish scraps so as not to throw anything away. The “ficazza” has a very strong and savory flavor, so cleansing the palate for the sashimi of Adriatic yellow grouper in ceviche, plankton and red turnip is not an easy task for Claudio Dragotto. A blanc de blancs made from a blend of strictly Sicilian grapes plays its role to perfection and pleasantly prepares for the delicate taste of raw fish. The excellent raw material is meticulously prepared and arranged on the plate in a charming way. The plankton links the flavors and balances the sweet combination of the turnip.
The second starter takes us back to Sicilian soil with the “meatballs” made of sardine, beccafico style, a revised version of the classical Sicilian sardine roll with pine nuts and raisins. A spherical version of the regional dish that retains the taste of the sea and the unmistakable sweet and sour flavor that accompanies this preparation. The sommelier combines an “méthode ancestrale” wine made in Umbria. This is a vintage Pinot Noir from Palazzola with a long persistence that evokes the scents of blackberry and honey. It looks like gold in the glass and even on the palate there is a sense of richness, never tiring.
Then we get to the spaghetti ai gamberi rossi di Mazara with shrimp foam and caviar. An interesting idea executed with excellent raw materials, even though the taste is not quite as powerful as you would expect.
With the second course, ikejime red tuna, yuzu, and spring onions from Cannara, the rustic flavors of both the sea and of Umbria merge with a citrusy Japanese touch to balance a dish studied down to the smallest detail. It is paired with a natural orange wine with great depth, a Trebbiano from Spoleto, that pairs decisively well with the fish.
The meal ends with a chocolate flan paired with a very tasty passion fruit ice cream and small, all-Sicilian pastries made with amazing skill. The dessert is eaten together with a Vin Santo, a fortified wine, also from Umbria, namely Palazzola, which closes the tasting in a canonical but not banal way.
The kitchen focuses on the best ingredients with an extra eye on seasonality. "If I don't have the excellent raw material, I prefer to tell the guest that I don’t have the dish." This is Michele's philosophy, endured also by the oenological devotion of his son Claudio, who has invested in a truly rich wine cellar, with fine labels and interesting choices that are difficult to find elsewhere. Le Terrazze di Piediluco is a restaurant with a family soul where the aim is to make people appreciate the true taste of the sea in a region that has no sea at all.
Address
Ristorante Sud
Via Cavour, 19, 05100 Terni TR
Telephone: 0744 198 5872
