We had to pick up the thread we’d dropped, but it wasn’t easy. Now we’re starting again, gently, setting out to discover month by month the culinary traditions that offer genuine, creative, original and acclaimed excellence right here in the city – going straight into the kitchens themselves. Yes, we’ve decided to resume the wonderful path laid out by Fabio, following chefs in their everyday world, learning how their dishes come to life, how they transform raw ingredients into the menus they put on the table. After Christmas, Easter is without doubt the finest occasion to rediscover tradition – a compelling mix of intense Holy Week religious rites, centuries-old folk customs, and regional culinary delights, all culminating in the Easter lunch. Dishes passed down through generations grace our tables: homemade pasta, hard-boiled eggs, savoury pies, lamb, and traditional sweets. But it is undoubtedly the richness of flavours and the ancient traditions of the South that reign supreme, where Easter truly means abundance and sharing.
Our new kitchen tour could only begin here, then – with a Campanian-Venetian blend starring Claudio De Lauzieres and Claudia Torcellan: he (32) from Torre del Greco, she (30) a Venetian pastry chef. A close-knit team, with a story that began in the corridors of a Michelin-starred restaurant, where fate crossed their paths and gave rise to a shared dream: the small but delightful bistrot Al Covino, in Calle del Pestrin. A deep passion for authentic ingredients and the subtle art of balancing flavours lies at the heart of their cooking – which shifts and transforms with the seasons, uniting tradition and innovation, yet always firmly rooted in what is most authentically Italian cuisine.
Al Covino: Easter between Naples and Venice
Here, then, is what they offer in their Easter menu: “The idea for the menu grew out of an interplay between memory and place – mine, Neapolitan, and Claudia’s, deeply Venetian. At Easter, at Al Covino, we try to bring them together in a single lunch. The starter comes straight from my childhood memories, from Easters spent at home in Naples. The table always had cured meats at its centre, but above all ventresca di maiale – cured pork belly – and fresh broad beans: the first tangible sign of a spring pressing in on the table. In Venice, that memory weaves itself into local tradition: and so our Easter charcuterie board is born, where the ventresca and broad beans meet Venetian soppressa and hard-boiled eggs, in a dish that is at once South and North, home and osteria.
For the first course we stay firmly on Venetian ground: a hand-rolled fresh tagliatella with seasonal early-harvest produce. We put on the plate what spring offers here: silene, hop shoots, asparagus, peas if they’re good, all those herbs that speak of embankments, ditches and kitchen gardens. It’s a dish that is only apparently simple: hand-rolled egg pasta, a light stock and the green fragrance of wild herbs.
As tradition demands, lamb cannot be missing at Easter. In Naples, ‘o ruoto o ‘o furn is a ritual: a wide baking dish, lamb with potatoes, onions and artichokes, the scents of the oven and of home. We wanted to bring that memory closer to the Lagoon by using artichokes from Sant’Erasmo: and so the classic Neapolitan dish shifts, in spirit, towards Venice. The result is a roast lamb that holds two geographies together in the same pan.
Then come the desserts, where the traditions speak to each other most richly. On one side there is my memory, my Campanian DNA: Neapolitan pastiera, made well in advance, resting and filling the air with the scent of ricotta, wheat, citrus and orange blossom. It is the sweet of waiting – of Holy Saturday, of a house full of fragrance. On the other side is Claudia’s lagoon heritage: the Venetian fugassa, a large, soft leavened cake, lightly sweetened, made with butter and citrus, which for her is the sweet of Venetian celebrations, of Easter mornings with the family. So we place them side by side and let you decide whether to close the lunch with Venice, Naples, or both together on the plate.” Claudio De Lauzieres, Al Covino
VENETIAN FUGASSA
Strong flour, sourdough starter, eggs, butter and sugar: the dough is worked at length with citrus and vanilla, left to rise until tripled in size, then kneaded again and placed in the tin. After a second rise, it is dusted with sugar and baked slowly. The result is a tall, soft and fragrant cake – a symbol of Venetian Easter.
NEAPOLITAN PASTIERA
A butter-and-lemon shortcrust pastry is prepared. The wheat is cooked with milk, orange and lemon zest until it becomes creamy. Ricotta is worked with sugar, eggs, candied peel, vanilla and orange blossom water, then combined with the wheat. The filling is poured into the pastry shell, finished with the traditional lattice strips, and baked slowly at a low temperature. After 24 hours of resting, the pastiera is ready: moist, fragrant, in perfect balance between sweetness and citrus.
