Festa della Repubblica

In 1946 the Italian republic was born. It marks the day the Italian people voted to abolish the monarchy and it’s now written in the country’s constitution that there will never be a monarch in Italy ever again.

Festa della Repubblica is the Italian National Day and Republic Day, which is celebrated on 2 June each year (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festa_della_Repubblica)

Remembered on the first Sunday in June, it’s the perfect day to embrace everything Italian and there’s little more Italian than food!

All you have to do to organise a great family food event, if you are a Valoriani oven owner, is to open up your family’s WhatsApp group and invite everyone round for something delicious you’ve created in your wood-fired pizza oven.

Wood-fired ovens are so versatile for cooking, you may struggle to choose what to make for dinner, but there are some great family recipes in the Valoriani recipe area of our website, if you need a bit of a steer.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple with a wood-fired Margherita pizza. It’s probably one of the most satisfying dishes to make in a wood-fired oven. Legend has it that in 1889, the King Umberto I and his wife Queen Margherita of Savoy were visiting Naples. The queen grew tired of the gourmet French cuisine (that was popular among royals across Europe at the time) and summoned the most famous pizza maker to help her rumbling stomach.

Raffaele Esposito was challenged to make three different pizzas for the queen to try. She did not like the pizza marinara or the pizza Napoli, however the third pizza tickled her taste buds so much that it was named after her. The tomato sauce, white mozzarella and sprig of basil are said to represent the colour of the Italian flag and if you create this in a wood oven, it’s likely to taste similar to how it did back then.

Another option for cooking is Crostini, the perfect Antipasti. Toasted slices of Italian bread, smothered with the best virgin olive oil, can be topped with anything you like. After toasting them in the wood fired oven, top with cream cheese, salmon and dill, marinara sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, to create miniature pizzas, or even try ricotta and fresh pesto. All are different and make the perfect sharing platter.

Did you know you can cook the perfect steak in one of our wood-fired ovens? The Valoriani oven creates the best charcoal flavours, which makes food truly delicious. If you want some tips, click here to see how Valoriani fan, Jamie Oliver cooks his steak in the wood fired oven.

What better way to enjoy a summer evening than with good food and good people, just make sure you pair the courses to a delectable wine. That, as they say, is a story (or blog) for another time.