With a spectacular view from the terrace, Taverna del Verziere resides on the top of Montone’s old outer walls. In the kitchen, Yuri and Ivan are making sure that the guests get a bite of both the old and the new Umbrian cuisine.

Many people know the truffle as something French. But Italy is actually the country in the world where there are the widest variety of edible truffles. And at Verziere, Yuri and Ivan use more than 1 kilo every week throughout the year of this precious ingredient. And for good reason. So Yuri, who has been the owner of Verziere for a good 8 years, explains.

“Everyone loves truffles. Both Italians and tourists – and they are an important part of Umbrian cuisine. Therefore, we always have truffles on the menu. Depending on the season, the varieties will of course change. During the summer we use the black truffles, soon it will be a bit more expensive white truffle we will have on the menu and in spring it will change again. But truffles, we’ll always have, “he says resolute.

It was not immediately in the cards that Yuri one day would be standing in a black chef jacket and control a kitchen that, in the high season, is always full of guests.
The xx-year-old Italian for many years lived as an artist. But one day he accidentally ended up at Verziere with some friends to eat. And there he heard that the restaurant was for sale – and soon after he could call himself a restaurant owner.

In the beginning, the inexperienced Yuri hired a skilled cook to help in the kitchen. But as Yuri explains; “He always wanted to have time of. First one day, then two – or five. And always in high season. You can not do that when you run a restaurant! ”
And one day Yuri had enough. Out went the cook – and Yuri put himself in the driver seat of the kitchen.
“However, I have always been cooking. As a child, I helped my grandmother make gnocchi. I helped to make pasta. All sorts of stuff. And in fact, cooking is not far from making art; You has to concentrate. You have to create something amazing every time – and you have tolike it. And I do, Yuri says with a smile.

On the sideline, Yuri’s long-standing friend Ivan spends just as many hours in the restaurant. Every morning they meet and prepare the meals of the day; first lunch that runs from 12-15, then the dinner is served from 19:30 to 23. And in between and afterwards they do the dishes, the cleaning, the shopping, planning and all the other many duties that are included when running a restaurant. At most times the young men only are helped by Graziella, Yuris mother who has been part of the team from the very beginning. Only in high season when a lot moreguests walk down the small staircase and into the restaurant, they get a bit of extra help in the form of a waiter and a dishwasher.
For both Yuri and Ivan it is important that the quality of the food they use in cooking is the best. During the years, they have spent many hours searching for the right suppliers – and if possible, preferably local suppliers. In this way they can choose the specific foods themselves – from the many different varieties of sheep cheese, used in many sauces to the meat and vegetables that end up on the plates.

All food served on Verziere is homemade. The pasta, sauces and meat is Yuri’s field, the gnocchies is Ivan. It is also Ivan that makes all desserts together with Graziella.

One of the most time-consuming dishes on the menu is Yuris lasagna, which takes more than a whole day to make. First, the lasagna plates made. Then the cheese sauce – and not to forget the ragu, which needs to simmer on the stove for whole day to achieve the right soft texture, explains Yuri, whose favorite pasta is ravioli, which also is a time consuming dish to do, but that awakens his creative instinct.
”I love making ravioli. It can be made in so many ways; with so many different stuffings and with so many different sauces,” he says.

Both Yuri and Ivan prefer the Umbrian kitchen traditions, but they also likes to play a little with the dishes.
”We have a dish on the menu; small lamb chops. In themselves, they are very umbrical, but we dip them into chopped pistachio nuts, and it is by no means Umbrian, nor Italian. However it gives the dish a modern tvist and it is a very popular dish. So even though we follow the traditions, we also allow ourselves to experiment a little. As long as our customers are happy, we are happy, he says.