Antonino Cannavacciuolo is an Italian Chef often featured in television programs in Italy and with several food books under his belt.

The restaurant Villa Crespi is his main creation with 2 Michelin Stars.

The villa itself is of a great beauty and it is definitely worth visiting it. The villa is a 5 stars hotel member of the Relais et Châteaux.

 We tried a lengthy tasting menu and whole experience lasted over 4 hours. My advice… pick a shorter menu.

  • Via G.Fava, 18 – 28016, Orta San Giulio – NOVARA

  • 180£ per person

  • Last Visit October 2013

Michelin stars
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    The food

    The food was pretty good however between some courses we waited too long.

    Most probably I’ll add on the menu that the entire tasting menu will take at least 3 hours. We didn’t really think about it and at the last hour we just wanted to leave.

    Anyway the food shows high skills and quality.

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    The Wine

    The sommelier Matteo prepared for us a nice wine paring. The wines are the usual classic with predominance of Italian and French wines for obvious reasons.

    Plenty of champagnes and Spumante classic method to choose from.

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    Tips

    This isn’t a place where you come and have a quick lunch or dinner. So plan carefully your day.

    They offer also a babysitter service and it is handy for someone coming with children. (it must be booked in advance)

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    The Business Side

    The restaurant is in a five stars hotel in the middle of nowhere. The beautiful center of Orta San Giulio is just 5 minutes away by car however who comes here are just rich locals, some food enthusiast and food critics.

    The place is meant to be quite and not completely full.  However the popularity of Antonino makes the place well visited.

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    Brand awareness

    Beautiful example of how to build a brand.

    Cannavacciuolo is a difficult surname to spell even for an Italian and still the brand awareness is really strong thanks to televisions programs and the face of Antonino.

    Villa Crespi also is a pure beauty as hotel so that adds up a lot to the restaurant.

    If you eat at Gordon Ramsay in Hospital Road, you’ll have an ecstatic meal however the restaurant itself and the location are quite horrible.

    Villa Crespi on the contrary is really beautiful and it’ll make the experience more memorable.

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    Social Media

    BANG, spot on.

    Definitely there is a good team behind the marketing of Antonino. To keep the analogy with Gordon Ramsay, the team is putting a good effort. He doesn’t a game app for iphone yet, but they are most probably working on it.

Some photos of Antonino Cannavacciuolo's restaurant Villa Crespi

Villa Crespi: Cannavacciuolo magic
In a beautiful Villa you can enjoy skilful prepared food.
Food8.5
Ambience9.5
Wine8.2
Business9
Pros
  • The villa is amazing
  • food really good
  • wine priced fairly
Cons
  • lengthy tasting menu
8.8Overall Score

About The Author

Serial entrepreneur and investor with a soft spot for fine dining and traveling. With a passion about business that has been growing since 1981. Web and marketing for breakfast, business successes for lunch and big failures for dinner (but at least with a full stomach).

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