Adriatic

Panettone is not a cake. It is a leavened bread, made from a slow-rising dough that ferments for days before baking. The result is a crumb that is airy and buttery and pulls apart in long threads, studded with candied citrus peel and sultanas. The dome rises above the mould during baking and then the loaves are hung upside down to cool, so they don't collapse under their own weight.

Panettone was born in Milan, and Milanese bakers are precise about this. The original: candied orange peel, citron, and raisins. Nothing else. Bauli has been making panettone in Verona since 1922. The Traditional 1kg is where to start.

Bauli Traditional Panettone at Adriatic.

In Italy, Christmas doesn't begin on the 25th of December. It begins the moment the panettone arrives.

Before a single gift is wrapped or a tree is decorated, someone opens a box and the smell of candied citrus and slow-risen dough fills the kitchen.

South Africa, it's that time. The Adriatic Christmas range is available for pre-order.

BONO has been pressing Sicilian olives since 1934. The Sicilia IGP on the label means the olives are grown, pressed and bottled in Sicily, carrying the island's sun, its volcanic soil and its centuries of olive-growing knowledge in every bottle. Nocellara, Biancolilla and Cerasuola, three Sicilian varieties together, cold-pressed and bright.

Drizzle it over grilled bread while the bread is still warm. Finish a plate of burratina with it. Use it where you would use butter and discover what Sicilians already know.

BONO Olio Extra Vergine di Oliva at Adriatic.

🇿🇦 Heritage Day Closure

Please note that Adriatic will be closed tomorrow, 24 September, in observance of Heritage Day.

We’ll be back and ready to assist you on 25 September.

Heritage is something especially close to our hearts. As a proudly Italian business in South Africa, we’re grateful to celebrate the traditions, cultures and stories that shape each of us, while proudly sharing a little of our own Italian heritage through the food we bring to your tables. 🇮🇹❤️🇿🇦

Wishing you a beautiful Heritage Day from all of us at Adriatic.

The Ricasoli family's connection to Castello di Brolio in Tuscany goes back to 1141. That is not a typo. Nine centuries of the same land, the same hillside, the same understanding that w**e is a long conversation between a place and the people who tend it.

The Albia Bianco is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Malvasia Bianca. It is the w**e for the outdoor table: fresh, clean, with enough character to hold its own alongside grilled fish, soft cheese and a board of things passed between friends. Chill it. Open it early. Let it breathe while you move the table outside.

Ricasoli Albia Bianco Toscana IGT 2022 at Adriatic. [link]

The Itrana olive grows in the hills of Lazio, in the area around Itri and the Pontine coast. It is a dual-purpose olive, both pressed for oil and eaten at the table. The table version is the one worth knowing.

Harvested at two stages of ripeness, the green and the dark are the same olive with two completely different characters. The green is firm and clean, with a brightness that cuts through richer food. The dark has had more time. It is deeper, earthier, the olive you reach for with a glass of red at the end of a long afternoon.

D'Amico le Specialità. Olive Itrana at Adriatic.

The Spritz started in the Veneto as something very practical. A splash of bitters added to w**e to stretch it a little further through a long afternoon. Nobody planned for it to become Italy's most exported aperitivo ritual.

Brotto Spritz Hour Aperitivo is the bitter you build it with. Add it to a glass of Prosecco and a splash of soda, drop in an orange slice, and you have a proper Italian spritz made from an Italian bitter, not a supermarket imitation. Negroni Antica Distelleria's Eleven Spritz brings a different bitter profile for those who want something with a little more edge.

The formula is simple. The result is not.

Both available at Adriatic. Not for sale to persons under 18.

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In 1919, a Florentine count named Camillo Negroni walked into Caffè Casoni and asked the bartender to replace the soda water in his Americano with gin. The bartender obliged. The Negroni was born.

Equal parts bitter, sweet and strong. It is the aperitivo at its most serious, and it has not changed in over a hundred years because it doesn't need to. Negroni Antica Distelleria's Bitters Aperitivo gives you the foundation. Pair it with one of Adriatic's Italian gins, the Silvio Carta Pigskin or Christian Drouin Le Gin Carmina, and you have everything the count intended.

Some things get it right the first time.

Negroni Antica Distelleria Bitters Aperitivo, Silvio Carta Pigskin Gin and Christian Drouin Le Gin Carmina all available at Adriatic. Not for sale to persons under 18.

At 6pm, something shifts in Italy.

The work stops. The glasses appear. A small bowl of olives arrives on the table, and nobody is in a hurry anymore. The aperitivo isn't a drink before dinner. It's a philosophy, a daily non-negotiable reminder that the best part of the day is still ahead of you.

This August, we're bringing that ritual home.

Adriatic | adriatic.co.za

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