PIETRA ROSSA 

From a story by Andrea Lorenzon

For those who know me, I’m most likely associated with CoVino, my first restaurant opened with initial collaboration from Cesare Benelli, and my father Mauro Lorenzon, who managed the now-closed Mascareta.

I would like my name to now be connected to Pietra Rossa, my new restaurant opened in June 2023. Pietra Rossa is essentially the “grown-up” version of CoVino, as the opening took place shortly before the tenth anniversary of the Venetian bistro. This came after a journey that gave me a clear idea of what it means to run a restaurant and provide hospitality.

Hospitality is the cornerstone of our business. Those who run or work in a restaurant must be predisposed to hospitality, engaging with customers and conveying the fundamental values of the culinary and human traditions of a place. This is true not only in Venice but especially in Venice!

For this reason, I strongly wanted Pietra Rossa to be a part of the Buona Accoglienza Association Restaurants, to further validate the imprint it carries.

The restaurant is located within a place that was already an osteria (Alle Alpi da Dante), a meeting point for many locals from the district who still remember it nostalgically. When I check that “we young ones” have done a good job, we often hear: “Ah, here was the counter, and here we played bocce.” This role that has been automatically conferred upon us by the custodians of the past, to carry on the mission of a historic place, perfectly embodies part of the message that the Buona Accoglienza (Good Hospitality) should convey, in my opinion. It should serve as a vehicle for the dissemination of human, historical, and social heritage.

As it is currently conceived, the Association gathers some of those restaurants that work with raw materials from the Venetian territory, following the seasonality of ingredients and still using traditional recipes, albeit interpreted.

To adapt to today’s conditions, where it is extremely difficult to find staff willing to be hired and trained, the Association should also become an intermediary, a point of reference for those seeking employment and want to work in healthy and honest places, as well as for those looking for collaborators. Among ourselves, I would like to be able to share contacts and knowledge, creating an even stronger virtuous circle between restaurateurs and employees.

Coming to Pietra Rossa, the focus on reviving and interpreting tradition, not necessarily Venetian, is the foundation. We are also a bit gourmet. We don’t serve side dishes; instead, we aim to create a balance between the protein and accompanying vegetables. We often use all parts of the animal, whether it’s fish or meat. We’ve introduced a Japanese grill into the kitchen because we enjoy working with ancestral flavors and textures.

However, what truly stands out here is the wine. We offer artisanal wines with refermentation or fermentation with indigenous yeasts. I curate a constantly changing wine list, not tied to any particular label, but always keeping around a hundred wines in rotation. 

Buona Accoglienza, but not only that, represents a potentially truly good community, a space that’s not competitive but one where everyone “runs together.” The natural wine issue has even more closely knit this community. In my opinion, the work still to be done is a work of sharing: making the association appear as an accessible group, perhaps through the sharing of reservations, so that if a person wants to try a particular restaurant because it represents a certain territory but that restaurant is full, they can be directed to a place with a similar culinary philosophy. Not so much to “fill up” but to provide access to those interested in a certain culinary culture..