ristorazione — Girifalco · Calabria
In the historic heart of Girifalco, between the baroque Carlo Pacino fountain and the Chiesa di San Rocco (Church of San Rocco), Cuore & Sapore tells the story of an authentic Calabria: one where vegetables are grown, chickens and rabbits raised, and what reaches the table comes from the family's own farm in the Campana district.
At number 117 Corso Garibaldi, where the old cobblestones narrow between the eighteenth-century fountain and the façade of the Chiesa di San Rocco, the sign of Cuore & Sapore opens onto a dining project that Daniel Stranieri built starting from the land: his family farm in the Campana district, between Girifalco and Amaroni, is the first ingredient in every dish.
In the dining room, one senses the measured pace of a family-run business: Daniel runs the venue, while his mother Caterina prepares the oil-preserved eggplants and zucchini, the pepper creams, the onion marmalade, the 'nduja (spicy spreadable salami), and the homemade bread. Every starter and condiment carries a name and a particular hand behind it, not an anonymous supplier. The supply chain stays within the family.
At the stove and the wood-fired oven, the story comes full circle: the pizza, overseen by master Francesco Savaia, rises for seventy-two hours and bakes over olive or citrus wood, on a dough made with thirty percent Petra n.1 flour. The kitchen also serves Calabrian classics — maccheroni al sugo di capra (pasta with goat ragù), fried polpette (meatballs) — alongside contemporary dishes.
From the Campana district to the plate, the journey is short and deliberate: every bite carries the name of whoever grew and prepared it. The page tells the rest.
