The idea of the Ristorante Diffuso
“My first project was to create an Albergo Diffuso in Montepagano.
Soon after I realized that the hotel also needed a restaurant. Meanwhile, fate had brought me to meet Davide Pezzuto who,
during his sabbatical, was looking for interesting stimuli.
While I was telling Davide what I was doing, he was receiving proposals from famous restaurants in Italian and foreign metropolises. Honestly, I didn’t think I had much chance to arouse his interest.
In the end I told him “chef, my little village is very different from Tokyo, Paris, Rome, but it has a lot of history to tell and we can contribute to its rebirth”. And then, there is a twenty-hectare farm at the restaurant’s complete disposal”. I didn’t have to add anything else Davide agreed to share my project and his contribution was immediately valuable. After a few days, he came up with the idea of the widespread restaurant, with the same characteristics as the hotel that was being built. It is, in fact, located in different structures of the old military quarter. You can book them according to the experience you want to live (the lounge, the small “fireplace” room, the main dining room, the privèe You&Me, the cellar, the event hall).
The kitchen is centralized. An original format and, at the moment, unique in the restaurante and catering world.
An idea that goes beyond a simple commercial project”.
Nuccia De Angelis
The name
“How to call the restaurant? We thought of names that we immediately rejected because they didn’t convince us.
Then I remembered a particular… during the first exchanges with Davide, also via wathsapp, I had noticed, next to his avatar, a nickname: DavidOne which was then the nickname used by his friends to indicate his size but also his being a number one.
And then, since the restaurant was all around him, it was easy to think of D.one.
But D is also about “Diffuso” and remembering we opened in December of 2015
Dreaming that One will hopefully soon be followed by a two, a three etc.”
Nuccia De Angelis
The farm
“I call myself a man of the earth, because I come from the earth and I would have dedicated my life to the earth.
I wanted to follow the family farm in Salento even if, due to a series of circumstances and because of my innate skills, I found myself as a cook, but the land and agriculture remained within me.
That wonderful miracle marked by planting, following the growth, harvesting and then sniffing, trying the flavors, melting them, tasting them … fascinates me!
So, when Nuccia said that, if I had joined her in running the restaurant in the small village of Montepagano, I would have a twenty-hectare farm at my disposal, I had no hesitation and I accepted on the spot without thinking.
I knew that the land was waiting for me and I was back”.
Davide Pezzuto
Our farm is located in the immediate vicinity of the restaurant. All cultivations are organic.
The olive trees
Exposed to the sun, they breathe the Adriatic breeze.
In 1870 the nobleman Bernardo Giosia Bernardi had the oldest olive trees planted.
The olive grove is cultivated with traditional and eco-friendly methods.
From almost two thousand trees of varieties typical of the Teramo area, with a prevalence of tortiglione, we obtain our superior quality extra virgin olive oil.
The vineyard
The Passerina, Primitivo, Merlot, Traminer, Sauvignon blanc and Malvasia vines grow in the hills and look out to the sea. They are the basis of our wines, our vinegar and the jam that we accompany the cheese with.
The wheat
In our farm we grow Senator Cappelli’s wheat.
A water mill, still in operation at Case Molino, produces the flour we use for bread-making and pasta.
The D.one pasta is made in the mountains, by an artisan pasta factory in Pratola Peligna.
The green garden
The vegetables on the D.One menu follow the seasons, marked by the crops that alternate in our garden. Borage, nettle, rue and cascigni, on the other hand, grow spontaneously in the stretches of land that we have left uncultivated on purpose.
The Hen-house
The Atrian Black Hen, mentioned by Crisisppo (3rd century B.C.) and Pliny the Elder (1st century A.D.) is an ancient autochthonous breed believed to be extinct. Its effigy appears on Roman coins of the 4th century BC.
It was recently found in the hinterland of Atri by WWF Oasi dei Calanchi biologists.
Our farm was the first to join the projectFamiglie Custodi della Gallina Nera.
With love we breed and try to preserve this agricultural biodiversity.
At the D.one we use only the small and very sapid eggs of our hens, but not the meat.