Long before RITROVO became the name of our company and web site in the United States, it was the name of a special kind of place for us in Italy.
During our six years of living and traveling throughout rural Italy we saw the sign “Il Ritrovo” again and again. In asking a local friend about this recurrence he replied that a “ritrovo” is simply a place where one gets together with friends and enjoys simple, mostly local, food and drink. Though this term seems to refer to what we call a “wine bar” in the U.S., it has a different emphasis. The importance of a “Ritrovo” is to host a get-together (lit. a “finding again”) in a comforting place, where people can renew their social bonds.
In fact, we decided upon our company name at such a place. We were seated on the porch of a rustic, white-curtained “Ritrovo” at Felluga winery, located near the Friulian village of Gradisca di Isonzo, “getting together” with our friend Gaspare and sipping local Tocai and Cabernet Franc wines. These wines were served with paper-thin San Daniele prosciutto and cubes of Montasio cheese, followed by roasted and tender Stinco, a delicious cut of meat (from the shin, in fact). The three of us passed the hours of an overcast afternoon laughing and chatting; some time during that magical afternoon we came upon the idea of using RITROVO for the company we were going to start in the U.S. Ritrovo, in its many word forms (as explained at our website ritrovo.com) was not only a pleasing concept for Italians in general but also an excellent idea for our values-driven company.
Now, ten years after that magical afternoon, we welcome you to RITROVO®. We look forward to getting together with you again – at our blog or web site, or at your table as you together enjoy the artisan, regionally-based Italian products that we develop and bring directly to the U.S.
Ci ritroviamo (we’ll get together again),
