It’s hard to describe your own place. I mean that the way you see it, who have been living in it for over 40 years, cannot be the same to anyone else… Or not? I always wondered which are the feelings entering U Giancu…Is it too full? How nice all those drawings made by children… And such a good idea to frame them. Strange objects all over! Is this a country restaurant? In every serious place works are always in progress. Something to take off and something to add.
That is the difficult part. Me and my family always try hard to do that. I hope that your sensation it’s a mixture of fun and happiness mixed up with a solid appetite. Hanging at the walls there are over 700 original drawings, many of them dedicated, done by the most important cartoonists all over the world. Some of them make you smile, others think. I hope they make you feel at ease. With the joy of being there and the wish to come back soon.
1960
U Giancu, the big mama Rina and the aunt Lice decide to take over the old porterhouse , the meeting point for the villagers to drink a few glasses of wine and have a chat. By chance, Big mama Rina starts serving some food and it is an immediate hit.
1970 spend&expand
The kitchen and the dining room have become too small. It is decided that the restaurant needs to move, and, even better, a new one is built. It’s in the same street, but 100 metres before the place where the old one was. Now there’s a nice and wide restaurant, but something is still missing.
1975-80
Little by little U Giancu fills with lots of cartoon characters. The first come from Rapallo, then from all Italy and finally from all over the world. Now, U Giancu’s walls are almost full from roof to floor.
XXI century
U Giancu is still working in progress. There are always some little changes, some new comics to add, a new recipe to cook, some crazy ideas…Anything that keeps it evolving and moving. Slowly, but always moving. Very often under the strict control of my wife Adriana and also together with the creative support of my son GB.