Soffritto

Those dining at Lucio's restaurant in Paddington (Sydney) could hardly suspect the extraordinarily rich heritage behind proprietor Lucio Galletto. That he is in Australia at all goes back to a chance meeting in 1975 at his parents' bar in the Carrara region of north-western Italy. Here it was that Lucio met his future Australian wife. Now, having established two successful restaurants in his adopted city of Sydney, Lucio returns to Liguria to reconnect with family and the history of this often overlooked region of Italy. With side-bars on the art, politics and the traditional foods of Liguria (think pesto, think seafood, think pecorino and lashings of vino) and copiously illustrated with Paul Green's beautiful photographs of the region, Soffritto is a magnificent testament to family and all the good things which life in Liguria has to offer.