All Traditional recipes Places we love Stories

The Oneglia journal

Stella

Recipes, places and stories — it all starts just outside the door.

Stories2 min read

Stella sul Mare

Why the house is called this: my mother's name, a bakery in Oneglia, and a couple of little crackers nobody ever asked for.

Places3 min read

Vele d'Epoca, the week the port changes its face

There's a week, between late August and early September, when you don't recognise Calata Anselmi. At Porto Maurizio, hulls of wood and brass launched a century ago drop anchor, and in 2026 the boats that raced the America's Cup turn up too. From the house, in Oneglia, you get there in ten minutes on the seaside cycle path.

Recipes1 min read

Linguine with trombette and prawns

Firm, sweet trombette from Albenga, sautéed with prawns and tossed with linguine. The pasta I make at home by eye, in a quarter of an hour.

Places3 min read

Borgo Foce, the fishermen's village of Porto Maurizio

Below the Parasio hill there's a fishing village that looks like a film set: pink and yellow houses clinging to the rocks, the gozzi boats, the waves reaching the walls. For me it's a place of the heart: this is where I had my graduation party, and where my daughter Emma had her favourite dish.

Places3 min read

Casa della Rocca, inside a mill in Dolcedo

In Dolcedo, twenty minutes up the valley, inside an early-1900s mill with the millstone and the press still in place. Under the stone vaults they bring you a Ligurian kitchen that holds land and sea together — sometimes on the same plate — and that the Michelin Guide has put in its selection. Closed on Tuesdays: best to phone and book.

Places3 min read

Censin da Bea, my 18th-century oil mill

My favourite among the valley places of the Imperia hinterland. An 18th-century oil mill in Borgomaro, with the stone millstones in the middle of the room and the cooking of the Ligurian mountains: snails, guinea fowl, game. You sit down and you understand you've crossed to the other side of the hill.