By Eleni Polites

Dining in Cagli has heated up with the opening of new restaurant. Native Cagliese Gabriele Giamucci serves as the head chef and owner of La Gioconda, one of the town’s newest, most innovative Italian restaurants.
Giamucci, who has dreamed for years of owning his own restaurant, opened the doors to La Gioconda in May.

The restaurant, tucked away on La Via Brancuti in Cagli, bears the Italian name of Leonardo DiVinci’s painting, “The Mona Lisa.” It also happens to be the name of Giamucci’s favorite Ponchielli opera. Giamucci’s passion in life is art, and it is reflected in the décor of his restaurant. “I wanted my restaurant to be an expression of art, to name the art of cooking,” Giamucci said.
The restaurant itself is rustic in design but with modern touches that make dining there an experience of more than just food and wine. The rough stone walls surround small tables covered in fresh white linens and candles, creating a very chic mood.

Even Giamucci’s featured dishes relate to the art that he so passionately cares about.
The menu features entrees that are unique to La Gioconda, especially the rare pasta and meat dishes. Giamucci’s pasta selection includes rarities like maltajati pasta with chickpeas, vellutata pasta with chickpeas and porcini mushrooms and a third rarity, paccheri pasta Mediterranean style. These pastas are specific to the Marche region, some difficult to find anywhere else. The sauces that Giamucci uses come from different areas of the Mediterranean, making La Gioconda’s menu stand out against other local offerings.

The restaurant’s meat dishes are more or less delicacies in Cagli, including three different types of steaks from various locations including Argentina. The menu also includes dishes commonly found in Tuscany, like lamb, rabbit and even horse.

The different varieties of pasta and meats are not the only things that make Giamucci’s restaurant distinctive. It has a lot to do with the way he prepares his dishes. When he cooks, you can see the passion in his eyes, especially as he flips the contents of the saucepans with a combination of force and delicacy.

With every flip of the pan the expression on his face intensifies. It shows how happy he is to be doing his job. Giamucci works with precision. He strives to cook every dish with perfection.
To Giamucci, everything is about expression, whether it is in the design of the restaurant or in the care and precision with which he prepares his dishes. While the restaurant’s name does not relate directly to the dishes themselves, it does relate to the way the meals are prepared.

Giamucci tries to put feeling behind his dishes, updating traditional recipes with fresh touches, while also providing a dining experience that cannot be found anywhere else in the Cagli area. One of the little touches that he adds to the dining experience is the mere fact that as soon as a party is seated at the table, they are served a glass of “Prosecco,” or Italian sparkling wine, a sophisticated gesture that welcomes and prepares for what is to come.

Giamucci has been behind the scenes at various restaurants in the Cagli area since he was 14 years old, working first as a helper to the main cooks at restaurants like La Ginestra and Shine, moving onto being an assistant and finally opening his own place right in the center of his native Cagli. After attending culinary school and working various restaurant jobs, he decided that his love for the job was too great to not open a restaurant of his very own.

Giamucci has lived in Cagli all his 22 years. “I decided to open my own restaurant in Cagli because I love the small village and I have a strong passion for cooking,” Giamucci said.
Giamucci isn’t finished yet. He has tentative plans to open a second restaurant. He explained that his next restaurant will use music and fashion as well as a more gourmet cooking style to make the dining experience trendy and more upscale.

This is not to say that Giamucci is disappointed with his decision to open La Gioconda in Cagli. For him, Cagli is the perfect place for a small and family-oriented restaurant.

La Gioconda is able to provide his fellow Cagliesi with a dining experience that perfectly fits their town. The restaurant is set up with closely neighboring tables, to provide a family-style atmosphere.

Aspiring chefs make it their career goal to one day own a restaurant of their own. After only one year of extensive planning, Giamucci has already accomplished his goal. The success and popularity of his restaurant is growing every day, and he recognizes that.

As Giamucci puts it, “I am very, very satisfied, but it is just the beginning. It still needs to grow, but I am very proud of the success so far.”

Photos by Jenna VanDeventer
Video by Jennifer McGuirl
Web Design by Mark A. Flynn

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