In 2011, Diego accepted Riccardo Lucque’s offer to help Riccardo open his first restaurant, La Bottega di Finestra.
Four more followed, Diego was there for the opening of each of them, and he subsequently became the quality and taste ambassador for all the products in La Collezione. Thanks to Riccardo, he discovered parts of Italy that he otherwise would not have wandered into, such as Riccardo’s home region, Marche, which is full of interesting producers and farmers.
In the meantime, our Noi Italia became a steadily growing company with a great potential, demanding the attention and full commitment of both of the owners; that is why, since 2018, Diego and Gimmi have been devoted to its growth, to looking for new product suppliers and to further improvement of services for its clients.
And he was right!
Since then, Noi Italia has specialised in the best of what Italy has to offer, and we see it as the best decision we have ever made. Another essential event was our meeting with Riccardo Lucque, who today owns the Aromi restaurant, the La Finestra restaurant and the La Bottega bistro chain. We met him the day before the opening of his first restaurant, and because he swears by quality, Noi has become his almost exclusive supplier of ingredients from Italy.
In 2007, Andrea Accordi, a Michelin chef, became Allegra’s new head chef, and his demands on quality were sometimes almost impossible to fulfil; however, it is thanks to him that Noi Italia took a big step forward and acquired a lot of new suppliers. It was then that we became the main supplier of Italian ingredients for Four Seasons.
NOI means “WE” in Italian, and behind this “WE” is Diego della Pietra and Gimmi Manganello.
We both came to the Czech Republic in 2000, and we started importing Italian ingredients two years later.
Our beginnings were full of hardships; the market was not yet prepared for Italian specialities and gastronomy had only just started to grow here. That is why we would import only basic products for Italian restaurants and pizzerias. However, everything changed when Vito Molicca, a friend of Diego’s and Allegro’s then-head chef in Four Seasons, advised him to start focusing on high-quality ingredients and that way distinguish himself from others.
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