FROM AMALFI TO VALENCIA: 'NONNA LIMONE' ARRIVES WITH THE MOST EXTRAVAGANT ITALIAN CUISINE IN CIUTAT VELLA • 24/7 Valencia

The gastronomic offering travels directly to the coast of Naples, with traditional recipes focused on seafood and fish, but with a personal reinterpretation and an identity marked by lemon. This is the second restaurant of the ‘Tutti Fratelli’ group, which has already established Mamma Pazzo in the Ensanche district, as well as other gastronomic brands with an Italian spirit, such as Mamma Pizza or Burgaccia.

In recent weeks, rumours have been circulating that a singular Nonna has arrived in Valencia, after a long stint in Southern Italy, specifically in Capri (Naples). From there, she has brought not only her hedonism, forged during long evenings toasting with limoncello, but also a traditional, yet original and personal recipe book, with the best dishes of Amalfi cuisine. Word on the street is that she could be the mother of the extravagant Mamma Pazzo, who has been cooking on Calle Conde Salvatierra since 2024. What is certain is that Nonna Limone shares her love for bacchanals, that bold and festive character, and of course, the defense of the famiglia: after all, she has left everything to cross the Mediterranean to reunite with her loved ones. Because that’s just who she is: when someone calls her, she shows up.

For a few weeks now, the Nonna has been setting the table for everyone in Plaza Cisneros, nº2, in Ciutat Vella, a few steps from the Serranos Towers and Plaza de la Virgen. The location is idyllic: a small and quiet square, which makes the experience even more exclusive and private. In her home, she cooks the most traditional recipes from Southern Italy, always under her own reinterpretation, because she was born with the sea as her destiny and passion as her fate. That passion is transmitted in her dishes, designed to convey identity, but also in a language that is easy to understand for all types of palates. The restaurant also resembles the Pazzo in its aesthetics. Divided into three different environments, it impresses with its interior design from the very entrance.

But let’s get to know her story little by little; at least a part of it. Because there are secrets that a Nonna… never shares with anyone.

The Tutti Fratelli Group’s Trip to Amalfi

Nonna Limone is the new opening of the Tutti Fratelli hospitality group, responsible for concepts already established in the city such as Mamma Pazzo or Mamma Pizza, all of them with a ‘family connection’. Lupin Piano or Burgaccia also belong to the same partners, of Valencian origin, committed to promoting Italian cuisine for new generations. Jorge Herrero, founding partner, describes Nonna Limone as “a trattoria with character, fun and bright, where you not only come to eat: you also come to stay a while in a place with soul. We want you to feel something very recognizable when you enter: that memory of our grandmothers’ – the nonnas’ – house, with the table always half set, in case you arrive hungry”. To that warmth, is added “the most spontaneous, colourful and vital point of the South: a cheerful energy, without rigidity, but well cared for”.

So much for the spirit, what about the cuisine? Specifically, the gastronomic proposal travels directly to Naples, to the city of Amalfi and its enviable coastal area. That is why the new restaurant offers recipes more focused on seafood, coastal products and an identity marked by lemon as a differentiating element. This is explained by the executive chef of Tutti Fratelli, Sergio Paolini, who speaks of “lemons, freshness and depth of flavour, as in a nonna’s house, with Italia tutta nel cuore”. In addition, being in an area with a more international audience, a menu has been built with a more universal reading: dishes with identity, yes, but with a language that is easy to understand. There are pastas, pizzas, risottos and a wide repertoire of appetizers, designed to share and appeal to a wide range of audiences. To give some representative examples…

🤌🏻 Guanciale croquettes with egg yolk cream and pecorino cheese

🤌🏻 Octopus carpaccio with an agri-spicy lemon vinaigrette and dried tomato

🤌🏻 Fresh egg tagliatelle, with deep and silky ragu, cooked for 72 hours

🤌🏻 Creamy roasted pumpkin and parmesan risotto

🤌🏻 Amalfi lemon ice cream with crunchy butter and almond cookie

Jorge Herrero, Sergio Paolini and part of the team travelled months ago to Naples and several cities on the Amalfi Coast, in order to gather ideas and refine their palates, before laying the first stone of the restaurant: “Each trip has been a kind of living laboratory, where we not only look, but we listen, ask, compare… We live it as a total immersion: we tasted more than 300 dishes during those days and, if the trip made one thing clear to us, it was that it is not about copying, but about understanding why a dish excites, why it works, and how an identity is sustained throughout a menu,” says Jorge. The menu also includes one of the most iconic specialties of southern Italy: the typical Neapolitan fried pizza, as well as pizzas made in a stone oven, maintaining the Neapolitan authenticity in doughs and techniques.

Non-stop cuisine, differentiated spaces and free spirit

Nonna Limone is open every day of the week, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., offering breakfasts, lunches and dinners with non-stop cuisine. A proposal designed for both the local public and the visitor looking for a complete Italian experience at any time of the day. Following in the footsteps of its predecessors, the restaurant boasts a modern, lively, and meticulously designed aesthetic, presided over by an entrance with colourful awnings, where there is also an Italian Vespa and a cart that is expected to be used for deliveries. In the centre of the kitchen, visible from the bar, there is an impressive, custom-made stone oven. In addition to having an extraordinary location for setting up the terrace, as soon as diners enter the restaurant, they are immersed in Neapolitan Italy.

The restaurant has three distinct rooms, following the conceptual line already present in Mamma Pazzo, which allows for experiencing different atmospheres within the same space and on different occasions. La cucina is the first of these, visible upon entering, and where there are some tables overlooking the bar. Next, we find il giardino, which lives up to its name, with lemons hanging from the ceiling and an impressive mural. This dining room leads naturally to the last room: la bodega, which is the most private of all, emulating the inside of a barrel. Thus, Nonna Limone arrives from Naples to Valencia to surprise with its homemade and traditional cuisine, but also with its deployment and control of the atmosphere. Lo spettacolo continua a casa della nonna.

Plaza Cisneros is the setting for the Nonna’s terrace

The new establishment appears to tie together the group’s narrative and make it even more coherent, since within the Tutti Fratelli group each restaurant builds its own narrative universe: the extravagance of Mamma Pazzo, the audacity of Mamma Pizza, and now the Mediterranean wisdom of Nonna Limone. “Nonna Limone” means lemon grandmother in Italian (Nonna = grandmother, Limone = lemon), and that spirit is the guiding thread of the project: tradition, product, and a striking and colourful cuisine marked by the presence of lemon and the flavors of southern Italy. Just as in Mamma Pazzo the cuisine relies more traditionally on references from Sicily and central Italy, in Nonna Limone that range expands: “We rely mainly on the south, with recipes and flavours that have more nerve, intensity, and homemade cuisine, but always passed through our filter.”

What else can be said about Nonna Limone? She is one of a kind, and she makes every story, every memory, and every unrequited love feel better when shared. She was always social, talkative, capable of filling any table with laughter and confidences. She fell in love a thousand times, but there was one man who never let her go: a sailor whom she loved with all her care. Among her children, the one most like her was always Mamma Pazzo: free, festive, easily infatuated, capable of making friends on any corner. That flame, that way of living with an open heart, is a direct legacy of the Nonna. We are talking about a woman who listens, who cares, who encourages. A romantic marked by an impossible love, but also a hostess who knows how to transform bitterness into toasts.

Report by ‘24/7 Valencia’ team

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’