Giolina

Restaurants are often like songs. At first listen you may not be interested, but by the third time you’ve fallen in love. The same is true for newly opened places which often need to be given a second chance to understand if the menu and location are right for us. This is not what happened with Giolina, which literally charmed us from its opening day.

This pizzeria-cocktail bar is located in one of the most elegant residential areas of Milan, Porta Venezia, and reflects the style of the building that houses it. The floor is made of vintage hexagonal cement tiles, tables and chairs that are typical of modern antiques. Da Giolina is eaten directly on marble as in real Neapolitan pizzerias. Plates and cutlery will be all you need. At the entrance you will find a piano topped with books, also placed on the shelves that lead from the entrance to the back of the room. On one side, there’s a spectacular cocktail bar where you can sit at the counter to enjoy an aperitif or an after dinner. On the other, there’s the wood-burning oven surmounted by an arch that seems to frame it. This corner, where the magic of leavening and baking of the dough takes place, reminds us of a stage where the show of taste takes place every evening.

Wrapped in an informal, welcoming atmosphere, perfect for a dinner with friends but also for a date, it’s time to order pizzas. Giolina offers a menu with eleven pizzas, all named by numbers in the Milanese dialect and, for summer, there are seasonal specials with female names. A few examples? Albertina, with tomato, mozzarella and ricotta flavored with juniper. Caterina, with courgette cream, sautéed courgettes, mozzarella, courgette flowers and provolone. And we can’t forget the titular Giolina, with aubergine cream, provola, piennol and parmesan wafers. All the ingredients are precious and selected directly from the places of production, such as the Piennolo del Vesuvio tomato, the Aggerola flower, the San Marzano tomato from the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino Dop and the Coratina monocultivar extra virgin olive oil. Semi-wholemeal dough and well-blended cornice make the pizza very light and easy to digest.

In addition to the quality of the food, Giolina is made special by the drink menu created in collaboration with the guys from the MAG. Pizza and cocktail pairing is catching on in the city, but when the team of Flavio Angiolillo is involved, there is no doubt that the evening will hold interesting discoveries. It’s a drink list designed to be combined with dishes to enhance their aromas and flavors but also to prolonging your meal and time with friends. There is also a selection of natural wines from all over Italy and abroad.

Giolina is the perfect place to spend a carefree evening, forget your diet and enjoy pizza paying homage to the Neapolitan tradition. In three words? Research, lightness and quality.