The Flavors of Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP con Fichi e Crostini di Polenta

San Daniele Prosciutto with Late-Season Figs, Honey & Golden Polenta Crostini

The antipasto begins with paper-thin ribbons of Prosciutto di San Daniele DOP — hand-sliced tableside — draped over a terracotta board beside charred, halved Adriatic figs from the coastal lowlands of Grado. A light drizzle of raw wildflower honey from a Carnic Alpine apiary threads the sweet and the savory together. Alongside, crisp golden crostini are formed from stone-ground Friulian white polenta — farina di mais bianco — pressed thin, brushed with herb-infused olive oil, and toasted until shattering. Scattered micro-greens from a local agriturismo farm add freshness and a whisper of pepper. This first course celebrates the defining product of the region: a prosciutto that has been dry-cured with nothing but sea salt and the cool, dry breezes that sweep up the Tagliamento river valley into the hills of San Daniele del Friuli since at least the 13th century. Each leg hangs for a minimum of 13 months, developing a sweetness that is distinctly un-salty, a perfume that is floral and faintly nutty, and a melt that is unlike any other ham in the world. This is Friuli's most iconic product — and the ideal opening act.

Jota Triestina

The Ancient Ribollita of Trieste — Sauerkraut, Borlotti Beans & Smoked Pork

Jota is the great soul-food of Trieste, a thick, fortifying peasant soup that has sustained generations of sailors, dockhands, and Habsburg bureaucrats through the bitter Bora winds that scour the Karst plateau. Its origins are debated — some trace it to pre-Roman Illyrian cooking; others link it to the Central European Sauerkraut traditions that Trieste absorbed during centuries of Austrian rule. Whatever its lineage, Jota is entirely Friulian in spirit: humble, nourishing, and built from a handful of local ingredients.

Our version begins with heritage borlotti beans soaked overnight and slow-cooked with a bay leaf and a rind of aged Montasio. Locally fermented sauerkraut — crauti — made from Friulian savoy cabbage, is rinsed gently and added to the pot with its characteristic tang intact. A slow-smoked pork cotechino from a Friulian norcineria is sliced and folded in, lending the soup its essential smoky depth. The broth is enriched with a soffritto of valley-grown yellow onion, wild garlic, and lardo cured in rosemary and juniper. Finished with Friulian extra-virgin olive oil and served in deep earthenware bowls with rough-cut sourdough from a Triestine panettiere, this is winter cooking at its most honest and profound. Chef Robert serves it in generous portions — this is not a mannered broth, but an embrace.

Pappardelle al Ragù di Cervo con Porcini e Montasio Stravecchio

Hand-Rolled Pappardelle with Wild Venison Ragù, Carnic Porcini & Aged Montasio

The mountains of Carnia — the wild, sparsely populated Alpine district in the northern reaches of Friuli — are home to red deer, roe deer, wild boar, and some of the finest porcini mushrooms in Europe. When the forests thin in late September and October, Friulian hunters and foragers take to the woods with equal reverence, and this third course honors both pursuits. The hand-rolled pappardelle are made with locally milled tipo 0 flour from the Tagliamento valley and free-range eggs from a hillside agriturismo outside Gemona del Friuli — their yolks a deep saffron-gold from a diet of pasture and grain.

The ragù begins with shoulder meat from Carnic mountain venison, braised low and slow in Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso — the brooding, tannic red wine native to Friuli — with shallots, juniper, wild thyme, and a bay leaf from the coastal Karst. Dried porcini from the Carnic Alps are rehydrated in warm spring water and folded into the ragù in the final hour, contributing a forest-floor intensity that amplifies the game. The dish is finished with a generous grating of Montasio Stravecchio DOP — aged 18+ months until hard and crystalline, its flavor nutty, sharp, and faintly sweet — and a curl of freshly grated Carnic black truffle when the season allows. The result is a pasta course of deep alpine soul: rustic in its foundations, refined in its execution.

Selezione di Formaggi Friulani con Frico Croccante

A Curated Friulian Cheese Board with Classic Crispy Frico & Wildflower Honey Comb

No dinner in Friuli is complete without a ceremony of local cheese, and no cheese preparation is more emblematic of this region than frico — a marvel of Friulian ingenuity that transforms grated Montasio into a golden, lace-edged cheese crisp by melting it directly in a pan until it forms a cohesive, crunchy wafer. Dating to at least the 15th century, frico was the simple meal of Alpine dairy farmers who had only aged cheese and a fire. In its crisp form — frico croccante — it is one of Italy's most addictive preparations: simultaneously rich and delicate, salty and nutty, with a shatteringly crisp texture.

The cheese board is composed of three regional selections sourced from small-production Friulian dairies and latterie turnarie — the ancient cooperative creameries where neighboring farmers historically took turns operating the dairy. Montasio Fresco DOP (aged 60 days): supple, milky, and delicately sweet. Latteria di Malga Stagionato (aged 6 months): a raw-milk mountain cheese from summer pasture, firm and floral with notes of hay and wildflower. Formaggio di Pecora dell'Altopiano Carsico: a sheep's milk cheese from the Karst plateau, creamy and faintly gamey, with the wild herbs of the limestone plateau infused in its rind. Accompaniments include amber honeycomb from Carnic bees, walnut conserva, and a small jar of mostarda di fichi — fig mustard fruit from the Grado coastline. Frico crisps arrive warm from the pan.

Gubana con Grappa di Picolit e Gelato al Miele di Castagno

Traditional Gubana Pastry with Picolit Grappa Sauce & Chestnut Honey Gelato

The final course pays homage to Friuli's most beloved festive pastry: Gubana. This spiral-rolled sweet bread is filled with a heady mixture of toasted walnuts, raisins soaked in grappa, pine nuts, candied citron, dried figs, crumbled amaretti biscuits, and a whisper of cinnamon and clove. Its name derives from the Slovenian word guba, meaning "fold" — a quiet reminder of Friuli's Slavic linguistic heritage — and it has been baked in the Natisone Valley (Valle del Natisone) since at least the 15th century. In the town of Cividale del Friuli, the historic Roman colony and medieval Lombard capital, Gubana is still baked by family pastifici using recipes passed down across generations.

Chef Robert serves a warm individual Gubana, its spiral crust glazed with egg and scattered with pearl sugar, alongside a warm sauce made by reducing Grappa di Picolit — distilled from the prized native grape of the same name — with local chestnut honey and a vanilla pod. The sauce is poured tableside. On the plate: a generous scoop of gelato al miele di castagno, made from the intensely dark and bitter-sweet chestnut honey foraged from the forests of Carnia — a honey of such complexity that it behaves almost like molasses, tempering the richness of the Gubana with a bittersweet coolness. A Carnic hazelnut tuile rests against the gelato. This is Friuli in winter: warm, spiced, and deeply comforting — a dessert that tastes like coming home to a mountain farmhouse hearth.