ITALY: VILLA CORA, AUTUMN TELLS ITS STORY AT THE TABLE

Head Chef Mattia Nesi_Villa Cora_Nicco Leone

VILLA CORA, AUTUMN TELLS ITS STORY AT THE TABLE

MILAN, ITALY, October 22, 2026 / EINPresswire.com / -- At Le Bistrot restaurant, Chef Mattia Nesi has created a new menu that celebrates the season through excellent ingredients, Tuscan influences, and contemporary combinations.

A gastronomic experience in the setting of one

of the most fascinating residences in Florence .

At Villa Cora , the charming Florentine residence overlooking the Boboli Gardens, autumn is also expressed through flavors. The new menu at Le Bistrot restaurant, designed by Head Chef Mattia Nesi, celebrates the season with refined, contemporary cuisine, blending Tuscan tradition, gastronomic innovation, and the finest ingredients. Cuisine thus becomes an integral part of a hospitality experience that engages all the senses: a dialogue between the pleasures of the table and the beauty of an extraordinary place, where time seems to slow down and every detail contributes to an intimate, sophisticated, and timeless charm.

The history of Villa Cora dates back to the second half of the 19th century, when Baron Gustave Oppenheim commissioned its construction as a tribute to his wife, Eugenia Fenzi. Subsequently owned by Empress Eugenia, widow of Napoleon III, the residence became a refined meeting place for the European aristocracy. Frescoes, stuccoes, precious marbles, and spectacular spaces still preserve its original charm, restored to its splendor by a major restoration completed in 2010. A legacy of history and beauty that lives on through an idea of ​​exclusive hospitality, in which gastronomy also plays a central role.

Autumn thus becomes a tale of flavors, textures, and aromas, where the richness of the earth meets experimentation. Mushrooms, squash, roots, cabbage, and game compose a gastronomic palette of intense hues, interwoven with smoky notes, citrus accents, and international influences. Each dish is born from the search for a balance between recognizability and surprise, with particular attention to seasonality and the creation of flavorful harmonies.

The menu opens with appetizers that showcase different expressions of the chef's cuisine. Roasted scallop meets corn béarnaise, corn on the cob, puntarelle, and coral powder, in a play of sweetness and vegetal contrasts. Leek, cooked at a low temperature and stuffed with smoked potato, is accompanied by a brown butter sauce and scorzanera chips, while the dish, aptly named Autumn, brings together a selection of seasonal vegetables, vegetable jus, black truffle, and a crunchy celery element. The veal offering is more intense, featuring melting tongue, roasted cauliflower, creamy lentil, red wine sauce, capers, and burnt lemon.

The pasta dishes showcase a particularly strong reinterpretation of tradition through unexpected pairings. Pumpkin risotto is enriched with almond ricotta, fermented black garlic, and parsley oil, creating an entirely plant-based dish. Cappellacci stuffed with autumn mushrooms pairs beautifully with barbecued veal sweetbreads, Jerusalem artichokes, and a juniper jus. The seafood finds expression in the bronze-drawn Qubetto Verrigni, with red mullet, scorpion fish, saffron bouillabaisse, and seaweed. Evoking the most authentic roots of Tuscan cuisine are the water and flour pici with hare ragù, 65% Xocoline dark chocolate, bergamot, and beetroot: a composition that reinterprets the character of game through a refined balance of depth, freshness, and aromatic notes.

The second courses also follow this alternation between gastronomic memory and research. The citrus-seared turbot is accompanied by turnip greens, razor clams, squid ink sauce, pomegranate, and shiso, while the olive-wood-smoked pigeon breast is served with liver crackers, cavolo nero, fermented pear, and tarragon oil. The vegetable offering finds its own identity in the melting celeriac with hazelnut cream, parsnip, miso sauce, and tart blueberry gel. The selection is rounded out by the tomahawk-cut suckling pig, with grilled ratta potatoes, shallots, sage mayonnaise, tart Savoy cabbage, and green pepper jus.

The journey concludes with desserts that emphasize contrasts and aromatic suggestions. Eclissi pairs a thyme-infused lemon bavarois with hazelnut brittle and licorice ice cream; Mora interprets wild berries with a yogurt blancmange, wild blackberries, buckwheat crumble, and raspberry and Timut pepper sauce. Delizia al caffè, also available in a vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free version, combines cocoa shortcrust pastry, coffee cream, black cherry, and tonka bean. More enveloping is Cara Mela, a millefeuille with Golden Delicious apples in Diplomático rum, vanilla namelaka, and salted caramel ice cream.
The new menu also places significant emphasis on plant-based cuisine, with vegan and vegetarian dishes that aren't just alternatives, but rather independent gastronomic interpretations, crafted with the same complexity and care as the other dishes. This sensitivity is complemented by the choice to use sustainably sourced seafood.