What is known today as the restaurant, “Dal Pescatore,” dates back to the 1920s when it was first opened by Antonio Santini and Teresa Mazzi.
Reflecting back on Antonio Santini, his grandson Antonio says: “My grandfather, who I was named after, was a tough man. He knew the Oglio river well—fished it by boat, and as a ferryman, he was well known as a real character. In fact, it was during one of his river crossings that he met the woman of his life: Teresa Mazzi, daughter of farmers from Dovarese Island who had emigrated to Brasil for the coffee harvest.”
Antonio and Teresa get married in 1926, and decide to open up a restaurant together. In the beginning it is a simple tavern, called “Wine and Fish”. Teresa works in the kitchen, Antonio fishes and serves tables. But it’s there, in that intimate union between the river and the fertile plains, that the spirit of the restaurant first emerges, and it is to that origin that the restaurant has always remained true.
In the early days, it is river fish (mostly fried), and Lambrusco (made by Antonio) that comprises the main menu of “Wine and Fish”, which becomes the destination of crowded and festive Sunday outings.
Even today, one of Teresa’s recipes will occasionally show up on the menu, and dishes like baked carp, stewed eel with peas or pike with parsley, anchovies and capers, testify to her strong link with those local roots.
In 1927, Giovanni Santini is born, and gets quickly brought into the life of the restaurant. Antonio, his father, teaches him how to fish, take care of the vegetable garden, and serve customers. The life of the restaurant goes on and it is able to overcome the hardships of World War II. In 1952 Giovanni Santini marries Bruna Rubes, class of 1929, daughter of farmers from the nearby town of Asola, and this is when the second generation of the restaurant begins: Antonio and Teresa first, Giovanni and Bruna second; and then in 1953 Antonio, named after his grandfather, is born.
Bruna assists Teresa in the kitchen, and begins to specialize in first courses based on homemade pasta, particularly those prepared with eggs. And these dishes, like agnoli in chicken broth, pumpkin-filled tortelli—all typical, local specialties, become the restaurant’s stock fare.
Over time, the tavern becomes a trattoria, the menu gets expanded, the tables get set with cloth tablecloths, and its customers no longer arrive only from the outlying towns, and from the provinces of Mantua and Cremona, but from Milan and the outlying regions. Some of the well-known regular guests from the Navigli (canals) of Milan, include the brothers Aldo and Renzo Cortina, artist and editor respectively, and the novelist and journalist Gianni Brera.
In 1970, the name of the restaurant changes from “Wine and Fish” to its present day name “Dal Pescatore” (From the Fisherman), and while a new, innovative era begins, it never forgoes its link with the past.
In 1974, the young Antonio marries Nadia from Vicenza, and a third generation of the restaurant begins. They take their honeymoon in France to visit the hallmarks of great French cuisine: Paul Bocuse, the Troisgroses, the Haeberlins, and others, whose friendship and collaboration will grow stronger and stronger over the years.
It is this formative trip which once again changes the nature of the restaurant. Nadia reminisces, “When we got back from our honeymoon we decided to radically transform the layout of the restaurant: greater distances between tables, fewer walls and more windows to privilege a dialogue between the interior and the garden outside, a reading room, and a room where anyone who wants to smoke a cigar, can. All this, however, with one strong conviction: to keep Italy in our hearts and in the heart of our dishes.”
In addition to the great French chefs, they startmeeting Italians as well: Peppino and Mirella Cantarelli at Samboseto, Franco Colombani at the Sole near Lodi, Gualtiero Marchesi in Milan. These are the masters and precursors of a new cuisine, based on local produce, on light and essential cooking methods, and on a renewed idea of hospitality. It is an example of Italian cuisine which remains true to its origins while radically renovating itself, comparing and judging itself with the great international cuisines, France in particular.
With the scope of valorizing and spreading Italian cuisine worldwide, in 1980, Antonio, along with Franco Colombani, Gaetano Martini, Roberto Ferrari and other friends, found the association called “Linea Italia in cucina”, and in 1982, Antonio with Gualtiero Marchesi and other colleagues found “Le Soste”.
The difference with respect to the past is astounding. At Runate di Canneto sull’Oglio—this small town on the banks of the Oglio River in the Mantuan countryside—emerges one of the great restaurants of Europe. From 1990, “Dal Pescatore” gets listed in the “Relais & Chateaux”, from 1992 in “Les grandes tables du monde”, and from 1996 with three Michelin stars, it receives unanimous superlative ratings in all the most important Italian and European culinary guides.
Along with the traditional dishes, such as ‘sorbir di agnoli’ (angoli in meat broth with red wine), ‘tortelli di zucca’, risotto ‘alla pilota’, pigs trotters with crispy savoy cabbage, white melon mostarda, guests can find new preparations: foie gras with peaches in a fragrant passito wine sauce, crayfish terrine with caviar and citrus-scented soused eel, and simple but essential parmesan tuiles, which start every meal at Dal Pescatore.
Nadia and Bruna manage the restaurant, Antonio works in the dining area, and father, Giovanni works in the garden and out in the countryside.
Giovanni Jr.is born in 1976 and Alberto in 1983. They constitute the fourth generation of the Santini family. The young Giovanni has now been in the kitchen since 1996, working alongside his mother, Nadia, and grandmother Bruna, while Albert has been in the dining area since 2000, together with his father Antonio; they were joined in 2007 by Valentina, Giovanni’s wife.
Both Giovanni and Valentina hold degrees in Food Science and Technology, and have been actively transmitting what they have learnt while minding the tables and in the preparation of the dishes.
Alberto, who received his degree in Business and Economics, has brought his enological knowledge and that of international business management to the restaurant. Today, Giovanni, Valentina and Alberto have been able to combine a solid academic background with their direct contact and knowledge of the great master chefs from around the world. Their contribution has thus become more central to the restaurant’s identity.
The generation of Giovanni and Alberto, from their infancy, were fortunate enough to grow up on the dishes, and were immersed in the flavors and the atmosphere of the restaurant passed down from their grandparents and parents; but they have also valued and respected the work and have helped share in its becoming what it is today. Firmly rooted in the experience conveyed by the former three generations, Alberto, Giovanni and Valentina have now become the present and future of the restaurant.
10 August 2014 was born Lorenzo Santini