DA FIORE

From a story by Maurizio Martin

Osteria da Fiore is a place that’s over 100 years old. It started as a wine shop and a place for midday lunches. We took over in ’78. We had bought this place from a man nicknamed Fiore, and we, perhaps among the youngest restaurateurs in the city, gradually changed the concept of the static cuisine that existed in Venice at that time.

As a young man, I used to go to the market every morning and follow the great work of Venetian restaurants, like the owner of Graspo de Ua and La Colomba. I watched with curiosity and tried to understand their expenses. We started by setting up a fish display at the entrance and began to cook: my wife in the kitchen, and me outside in the dining room. I have to say that we were highly successful. When I arrived in Venice, the city had 130,000 inhabitants: artisans, merchants, businesses, offices… there was a world.

We gained significant notoriety when an American journalist, Patricia Wells, came to eat with us and considered our way of making cuisine, especially risotto, among the top five risottos she had ever eaten in the world. This brought us huge publicity and also disrupted our lives because honestly, we were not prepared at all, and we weren’t even seeking such notoriety.

Then, thanks to a great friend of mine, Marcella Hazan, who was one of the ambassadors of Italian cuisine in the world, especially in America, we became much loved by Americans and very famous in New York. That was Fiore’s great success – a success that was difficult to handle with staff recruitment, changing all the cutlery, glasses, and tablecloths. This is why we held a Michelin star for 26 years – we were the first restaurants in Venice to receive one. However, recently, I realized that it had lost its meaning for us. And from this year, we no longer have the star. In the meantime, we continue to offer our cuisine, which is expressed solely with local ingredients, following the philosophy of the restaurants of the Buona Accoglienza, with absolutely fresh seafood and a small inclusion of meat, which can vary from duck to guinea fowl, lamb, or Venetian-style liver (which must always be on our menus).

But now I’d like to reflect. I don’t want to dramatize, but there’s a city here that has lost its soul. There’s a barbaric invasion, and we all wonder: what’s the point? And I also wonder, as a professional, if my way of expressing cuisine – mine and that of my colleagues – still makes sense in this city. Let’s establish a pyramid: the top of this pyramid, which represents lovers of a certain type of cuisine, is gradually shrinking. There is a rejection by a certain type of clientele to deal with these daily invasions. I can’t find a solution to this problem. I will persevere, as I always have. But restaurants in our category are suffering a lot. My long-time customers have aged, some are no longer with us, the next generation doesn’t have the spending power of previous generations, and there are no more companies, so we must rely on those who come from outside. Nevertheless, if we want to combat a certain type of tourism, we must provide a certain type of service to counteract the cruder tourist offerings.

Regarding the evolution of our cuisine, it goes hand in hand with our search for raw materials – for example, we have recently introduced a selection of very special oysters – but we never betray tradition. There’s always cod, seasonal early produce, bigoli in sauce should never be missing, risottos, and fresh pasta with ancient grains. Among the main courses, the first port sole when it comes out, and eel strictly from the northern lagoon. The pastry, all made by us. At Da Fiore, apart from the wine, everything is done by us.

We are among the founders of the Buona Accoglienza Association, and we recently re-entered because we like it and believe in it. We believe we need to invest in the future. We need to create a way to make our type of cuisine understood, collaborate with foreign countries. And then, education is needed. When the time comes, during the low season, I believe that all of us restaurateurs from Buona Accoglienza should invest in young people, take turns inviting an elementary school and help these young people understand the beauty of work, cuisine, and certain dishes and foods. They are the future.