"Come on stop! Let's make some spaghetti with garlic and oil."
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we have Salvatore and Teresa Ferrara, the owners of the Restaurant-Pizzeria Vesuvio. A historic restaurant that has been open for almost fifty years in the Borgo d'Oro.
After two hours of chatting, anecdotes, recipes, the best thing happened right in front of us, a dish of spaghetti with true fragrance.
It is at the table that Salvatore feels most at ease and it is here that the story becomes more intense, intimate. He speaks softly, listens carefully and only smiles with his eyes, while Teresa, in a yellow dress, curious and lively, continues to work approaching us from time to time to make sure that everything is in place and throwing in some shrewd jokes here and there.
The restaurant was opened in 1970 after his father Giovanni made the suggestion, and his mother Filomena gave a determined push. "I just want to make myself a nice home", this was his desire, for himself and his six children.
They left Tramonti - a town on the Amalfi Coast in the province of Salerno - and they courageously moved to Bergamo to open a new business. They didn’t have any experience but had the certainty of being able to count on their children to help out.
When we ask them what they thought of it, Teresa smiles serenely and says: "We surrendered!". And this "surrender" seems to contain an extraordinary and instinctive act of trust towards life.
Once in Bergamo, Mrs. Filomena, very bold, was the real family entrepreneur. "But Dad was always present - adds Salvatore - and his look was enough to make us respect the rules, even the unwritten ones."
Their whole life happened in the restaurant. Here they learned by mistake, here they met their life companions and, as Teresa laughs, "at Vesuvius we get engaged at home!"
At Vesuvius, Mediterranean cuisine prevails with fish and traditional dishes and, of course, Neapolitan pizza. It was the Tramonti pizza chefs who exported it to northern Italy after the 1950s, emigrating en masse in search of fortune.
In Tramonti, the pizza tradition has ancient origins and is linked to the production of bread in domestic ovens. With the same dough, originally made with mixed-grain flour, a kind of flatbread was prepared to eat freshly baked.
Later it was then seasoned with tomato, oregano and anchovies and to consume it directly, still hot, in the bakery.
Alfonso, Salvatore, Teresa and Luigia’s brother, has devoted much of his life to bread making and today, at the restaurant, he always churns out homemade bread. "When he started he used a water crate as a step, otherwise he didn't reach the counter!" comments Teresa.
Salvatore says that in Bergamo the first real innovation was to replace butter with olive oil and that today the strength and identity of the restaurant lies in the use of excellent raw materials that, once prepared, become even better.
But the real magic ingredients are those of the heart: “We all work with commitment, with love, with education and respect for all. If you are polite, you’ll be forgiven for everything."
"We have workers of different nationalities and cultures, and we ask them for punctuality and respect, just like in the family. The result is that some come to work even with a fever!"
"The customers who choose us look like us" stresses Salvatore, and Teresa presses "We get fond of each other easily, they are always more good things than bad".
Among the first, second and third generations, the family now has about forty people. The children have taken different paths (some have studied law or philosophy) but when the restaurant calls, everyone comes back to lend a hand.
Natascia, Teresa's daughter, born and raised in the neighbourhood, adds that efforts are always rewarded by those who have been coming back for years to experience a bit of their house.
We have to ask ourselves, how it is possible not to quarrel within such a numerous family that work together, and it is still Teresa, with her spontaneous wisdom, who gives us an answer: "Of course we argue. Then we make coffee and make peace."
"Come on stop! Let's make some spaghetti with garlic and oil."
Together with the Urban District of Commerce we have Salvatore and Teresa Ferrara, the owners of the Restaurant-Pizzeria Vesuvio. A historic restaurant that has been open for almost fifty years in the Borgo d'Oro.
After two hours of chatting, anecdotes, recipes, the best thing happened right in front of us, a dish of spaghetti with true fragrance.
It is at the table that Salvatore feels most at ease and it is here that the story becomes more intense, intimate. He speaks softly, listens carefully and only smiles with his eyes, while Teresa, in a yellow dress, curious and lively, continues to work approaching us from time to time to make sure that everything is in place and throwing in some shrewd jokes here and there.
The restaurant was opened in 1970 after his father Giovanni made the suggestion, and his mother Filomena gave a determined push. "I just want to make myself a nice home", this was his desire, for himself and his six children.
They left Tramonti - a town on the Amalfi Coast in the province of Salerno - and they courageously moved to Bergamo to open a new business. They didn’t have any experience but had the certainty of being able to count on their children to help out.
When we ask them what they thought of it, Teresa smiles serenely and says: "We surrendered!". And this "surrender" seems to contain an extraordinary and instinctive act of trust towards life.
Once in Bergamo, Mrs. Filomena, very bold, was the real family entrepreneur. "But Dad was always present - adds Salvatore - and his look was enough to make us respect the rules, even the unwritten ones."
Their whole life happened in the restaurant. Here they learned by mistake, here they met their life companions and, as Teresa laughs, "at Vesuvius we get engaged at home!"
At Vesuvius, Mediterranean cuisine prevails with fish and traditional dishes and, of course, Neapolitan pizza. It was the Tramonti pizza chefs who exported it to northern Italy after the 1950s, emigrating en masse in search of fortune.
In Tramonti, the pizza tradition has ancient origins and is linked to the production of bread in domestic ovens. With the same dough, originally made with mixed-grain flour, a kind of flatbread was prepared to eat freshly baked.
Later it was then seasoned with tomato, oregano and anchovies and to consume it directly, still hot, in the bakery.
Alfonso, Salvatore, Teresa and Luigia’s brother, has devoted much of his life to bread making and today, at the restaurant, he always churns out homemade bread. "When he started he used a water crate as a step, otherwise he didn't reach the counter!" comments Teresa.
Salvatore says that in Bergamo the first real innovation was to replace butter with olive oil and that today the strength and identity of the restaurant lies in the use of excellent raw materials that, once prepared, become even better.
But the real magic ingredients are those of the heart: “We all work with commitment, with love, with education and respect for all. If you are polite, you’ll be forgiven for everything."
"We have workers of different nationalities and cultures, and we ask them for punctuality and respect, just like in the family. The result is that some come to work even with a fever!"
"The customers who choose us look like us" stresses Salvatore, and Teresa presses "We get fond of each other easily, they are always more good things than bad".
Among the first, second and third generations, the family now has about forty people. The children have taken different paths (some have studied law or philosophy) but when the restaurant calls, everyone comes back to lend a hand.
Natascia, Teresa's daughter, born and raised in the neighbourhood, adds that efforts are always rewarded by those who have been coming back for years to experience a bit of their house.
We have to ask ourselves, how it is possible not to quarrel within such a numerous family that work together, and it is still Teresa, with her spontaneous wisdom, who gives us an answer: "Of course we argue. Then we make coffee and make peace."
