Italians are part of the cosmopolitan society of Hermanus and as to be expected these Italians, like all Italians, are big on wine and food. Fabio Lenci opened up Fabio’s Ristorante in a side street of Hermanus in 2007. July celebrates the 13th anniversary of this restaurant giving us a taste of Italy at the southern coast of Africa. Fabio was born in Lecco, on Lake Como about 50kms north of the Italian capital Milan, and travelled as a child to South Africa. The eatery has a wall decorated with memories of family photos showing the landscape as well as Fabio’s passport photo that gave him right of passage to the African continent as a 3 year old. He brought with him many flavours of his home country – pasta, pizza, Prosecco to name a few.

The national lockdown gave Fabio time to rethink his business and the result is a new deli in town with homemade pasta of any sort and in many colours. Even a gluten free variety. The recipes led to a whole new business and on of Fabio’s restaurants in Aberdeen Street Hermanus was converted into an Italian deli, Dal Italia. Whatever your Italian foodie preferences you can rely on Fabio to satisfy your cosmopolitan palate. Buon appetito!