My favorite day of the week has always been Sunday, in part because it’s a day off from work, but most importantly because Italian Sundays are rich with food and culture. After going to church on Sunday morning, where my friends and I would socialize and play, we would say our goodbyes and go to our respective homes where our mothers and grandmothers would be preparing Sunday lunch. In my case, I also knew that before sitting down to enjoy this most important meal of the week with all of my family, my father Giorgio would take me to Bar Principe to get fresh traditional pastries to enjoy as our dessert. For me this was everything. Although I enjoyed eating all of the savory food, I always looked over to the serving table at home where the paper tray filled with cannoncini, bignes, meringhe, and tartlets shined and patiently waited to be eaten.  

My trips to the Bar engraved in me the different fragrances and sounds of a real coffee bar. The aroma of the recently ground coffee, the distinctive smell of the freshly levitated cornetti, as well as the chatter created by spoons and coffee cups. Although the coffee boom in America has tried to duplicate this and has become a phenomenon, in my opinion it still falls short of the real thing.

After Sunday lunch, which usually ended in the late afternoon it was time to take a little nap or watch a show on TV.  For dinner we would go out on occasion, sometimes to a local restaurant like the Blitz, though if it were during summer we would take our bikes and ride into the center of Forte dei Marmi to enjoy the extra light. There we would stop by Pizzino for a mini margherita pizza – enjoyed while sitting outside on the director style chairs – or go to Pietro for a focaccina all’arselle and my all time favorite crostata con fragoline di bosco.

Forte dei Marmi was so rich with culinary ideas and in many ways still is. People not only come to Forte for the sophisticated beach culture and for the glamour, but also for the culinary genius that it created. This is what I want to recreate with “edo.” The sense of a real coffee bar, open throughout the day, with an emphasis on serving small pizze, focaccine, and some simple but special desserts. I aim to duplicate the smells, the art, and the love of some of my favorite foods that I remember enjoying on a daily basis.