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DANIELA

FROM HER PASSION FOR RESTORATION TO RECEPTION IN THE HALL,
SHE IS THE IRREPLACEABLE FRONT-END OF PIERGIORGIO’S KITCHEN.

 

Kindness, good taste, spontaneity: Daniela naturally has all the elements of the art of welcoming; thus, when the guests enter the restaurant, they’ll always find a well presented hall, some advice for the perfect wine and a genuine smile: this is added value when experiencing the restaurant’s cuisine.

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PIERGIORGIO

RESEARCH AND ACCURACY IN THE KITCHEN

 

Piergiorgio Siviero attended the Hospitality Training Institute in Adria, where he got his degree in 1999, alternating his studies with work experience during the weekends and the summer holidays. After the graduation Piergiorgio moved to Switzerland, at the Kulm Hotel and then at the Baddrutt's Palace in St. Moritz, where he experienced for the first time the strict methods and preparations demanded by international cuisine. Before leaving for the military service he has the chance to work as pastry chef assistant at the Grand Hotel’s Don Carlos restaurant in Milan. In February 2001 he leaves again for Milan to work with Aimo Moroni at the 'Luogo di Aimo e Nadia'**, where he dives into a culinary adventure focused on a deep knowledge of produce, seasons, honesty and recognisability of the products, with one of the greatest masters of Italian cuisine. In the spring of 2003 he starts his adventure in Paris, landing at the court of Alain Ducasse, the world's most decorated Michelin Star chef. 

 

His organization, his technique in the art of cuisine, and his deep understanding  in the use of new technologies push Piergiorgio to new experiences, starting as chef de partie at the restaurant 'il Cortile'* and becoming, after one year, Tjaco Van Eyken’s Sous Chef. Later he refined his experience under Jean-François Piège at the Plaza Athénée***. Piergiorgio was then ready to work with Chef Frank Cerruti at the restaurant 'Le Luis XV'*** in Montecarlo, where he perfected his knowledge in one of the temples of cuisine. In mid-2005 he decided to go back to Pontelongo, to continue what his grandfather Lazzaro started in 1915 and his parents Paolo and Maria Pia and his uncle Giovanni and aunt Dilva carried on at the 'Trieste'. Nowadays, he is co-owner of the ‘Trieste’ Hotel with his sister Daniela, and Head Chef of the restaurant ‘Lazzaro 1915’ with his aunt Dilva and mother Maria Pia. Here, he combines his experiences, respect for tradition, and a touch of creativity.

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NONNO LAZZARO

 

WE NEED A LONG STORY TO EXPLAIN A BIT OF TRADITION…

 

In the municipal records where the old life profiles are archived, we can still read what follows: Lazzaro Siviero and his wife Krvavica Elena, from Trieste, are registered in the archive of the resident population as refugees from the city of Trieste, at that time under Austrian domination, to settle in this remote village. In the present location of the hotel and restaurant ‘Trieste’, originally, before the year 1915, there was a modest tavern which was run by ‘Gigia delle rose’, who is remembered by the elderly for her gracious nickname. The Sivieros, who had already been in the restaurant business, decided to buy the building and equipped it with all the necessary facilities to make it a proper restaurant. The sign on the restaurant said ‘To the City of Trieste’ and was a dedication to the beautiful Istrian city where they had lived for many years. Mrs Elena, known in the village as ‘the lady from Trieste’, had been admired in her city of origin as a great chef and hotel owner. She started working right away with her husband, and was noticed by the various dealers and brokers which used to travel to Pontelongo on the occasion of the weekly market or the ancient Sant’Andrea fair to sell and buy animals and grains. During the war Mr Siviero was sent to the front and so Elena, left alone in the management of the restaurant, called her husband’s nephews and nieces Maria, Nicoletta, Paolina and Carletto.

At the end of the war, after Lazzaro finally came home, he immediately started push the business, increasing the already consolidated fame of the restaurant, loved by the village and the surrounding areas… The old restaurant 'Alla città di Trieste' became known as a ‘mail exchange’ place, as in its rooms boatmen and horsemen met on their way up along the river, from the ‘Brondolo’ area in Chioggia. They were tired from the long journey, and soaking wet from rain in the winter season, and here they had the chance to change into warm clothes which the hosts made available to travelers. To complement the organisation, the restaurant had a stable with barn for the horses to recover. As in the old custom of the stagecoaches, the ‘exchange of mail’ happened when the horseman from Pontelongo took over those coming from Chioggia, to complete the journey up to Battaglia Terme. As the years went by, the restaurant evolved, adding guestrooms that during sugar production, were used to host the factory staff. The owner, Mr. Siviero was widowed in 1932, after Mrs. Elena died without having any children. He remarried in 1935 to Mrs. Elide Biscaro. The family chronicles report the death of Lazzaro on the 1st July 1948, leaving the widow Elide with two small children. On that occasion, the sister-in-law Maria came to the widow’s aid, helping her running the restaurant.


Only two years after the death of the head of family, Mrs. Elide died too leaving two children in despair and a troubled situation in running the restaurant.  After varying fortunes, then some wise family advice, the restaurant started to be run by Giovanni Piva and his wife Giuseppina Biscaro, who was Elide’s sister. She started to look after the children and to run the restaurant with love and dedication.  This collaboration lasted until 1960, when the firstborn Gianni Siviero got married to Dilva Codogno. From that moment on, the restaurant started to be run by the rightful owners Giovanni and Paolo Siviero, who in 1965 performed a complete renovation of the restaurant, bringing it to an accommodation capacity of ten rooms. The place, a trattoria first (an inexpensive family restaurant), finally becomes a restaurant with the sign 'Albergo Ristorante Trieste'.

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MODERN TIMES

AUNT DILVA: OUR CULINARY MEMORY!

 

The Siviero family, with its long-standing history, has maintained the name ‘Trieste’ decided by the head of family Lazzaro Siviero for the hotel, and has given the name 'Lazzaro 1915' to the restaurant, as a real tribute to the founder. 

The current direction taken by the restaurant mixes with old traditions and aims at passing on the family’s culinary art, adding new creative suggestions.

This is why in the early 2000s Piergiorgio Siviero, the young co-owner of the family business, has joined chef Dilva Siviero, who has been running the kitchen for years. After some years spent training in top restaurants both in Italy and abroad, Piergiorgio is now a co-chef who combines tradition with progression, the memory of the past with a leap into the future. 

Piergiorgio is given an invaluable support by his mother Maria Pia, his father Paolo, his uncle Giovanni and his sister Daniela, who is the latest addition and new co-owner of the family business. He mostly shares the restaurant’s kitchen with his aunt Dilva, who represents the historical and culinary memory of Lazzaro1915!

She deserves to be acknowledged with the success of the restaurant in the last 50 years: her cooking style brought us up and trained us… it is somehow part of our DNA!