The Restaurant Don Serafino in Ragusa Ibla

For those who love wine and wait to find new bottles to taste, there seems to be plenty of choice near Ragusa. Downtown, among the restaurants in Ragusa, is hidden an elegant gourmet place created in the ancient stables of an old palace: Locanda Don Serafino (www.locandadonserafino.it). It is romantic "cave", with gourmet cuisine of the area and a dizzying selection of wine bottles. Giuseppe La Rosa is the sommelier, food and wine expert of the house. He seems so proud about his impetus to improve the wines when begins to speak: "A sommelier has a great task in life, namely to understand the tastes of customers and trying to match with the food they are preparing to order. My role equals to a free soul, which can range into the wide world of culture, geography and even psychology. It goes beyond the wine and the simple name of a vine or a label. " Graduated in Trade Economics at Ca 'Foscari of Venice and sommelier since 1992, he graduated Master Sommelier Italian Academy, the elite eclectic AIS. "Although I and my brother Anthony have two restaurants, the commitment with which we manage the two wineries is the same” says with a concentrated expression, "Although the two places are completely different. “The Inn in the center of Ragusa in fact has a wider selection, about 1,200 labels for 20,000 bottles; the " Lido Azzurro Don Serafino 1953" is, among the restaurants of Marina di Ragusa, on the beach, more informal and less provided than the other. "Eight years ago we built a glass and wood room on the beach, thermo conditioned: now is a real store with about 400 wines and a humidor for cigars. I liked the contrast of beach and champagne, the atmosphere at the water's edge and selected wines." The small winery is a fine bunker sea. From “Lido Azzurro Don Serafino 1953", the heat of the coast, can be found mainly wine of the territory but also pearls of Italian enology as Barolo and Sassicaia. "For the restaurant in Ragusa Ibla is a different matter, because I really have in the cellar big labels, from all over Italy: in addition to wines from Sicily and the province of Ragusa we have, for example, a fine white Tyrolean Terlan Weissburgunder of 1984. Of course abound the best vines from my region, as the Cerasuolo of Vittoria, Nero d'Avola or Frappato. These are wines that make a difference because they exude the sicula personality. For me a wine must retain its identity, since the defect is beauty and becomes value.Now the wines are made at the stamp, vanilla and pepper taste, I seek instead the particularity, those that have a unique smell or taste, tied to the territory”. When he says these words, Giuseppe La Rosa is serious and humorous at the same time, because it is a cultivated, ironic and professionally impeccable person. "I want to entertain customers while teach them, let them experience new thrills through unknown flavors, so I'm a promoter of "Taliban producers”, those who do not bend the approval of the taste but pursue their own goals. I'm talking for example of small but excellent company Rio Favara, Guccione Wines, Faro Palari and Tenuta Delle Terre Nere, which create interesting  wines despite having no bottles with truly noble names.