Fortuny Restaurant
Hotel Cipriani
Venice
Giudecca, 10
30133 Venice
041-520-7744
Review copyright - Ginda Simpson
The inclement weather
prohibits us from dining outdoors on the terrace of the Fortuny
Restaurant, but indoor dining is not without its pleasures.
From our candlelit table in its elegant interior, we have a
pleasing view of the lagoon and of the little islet of San Giorgio
Maggiore, crowned by Palladio’s magnificent church.
It seems right that we start our meal with a Bellini, created by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1943 at Harry’s Bar - a drink he named in honor of the painter Giovanni Bellini. Made with fresh pureed white peaces and Prosecco, it remains all these years later, one of Cipriani’s most requested aperitifs. Another Cipriani specialty is Carpaccio, named by Giuseppe after the Venetian painter, Vittore Carpaccio. Now popular all over the world, it is a dish of paper-thin slices of raw beef served with a freshly made mustard-mayonnaise sauce. Cipriani’s classic Carpaccio is a fine prelude to a spectacular meal: Tortelli stuffed with scallops, sea bass baked in salt, grilled scampi and a frittura of delectable shrimp and calamari. How did we ever find room for the chef’s version of Tiramisù, prepared in its own chocolate cup and topped with a slivered chocolate silhouette of a gondola!
Chef Renato Piccolotto’s recipes pay homage to the city of Venice, half land –half sea. Using ingredients brought in daily from its waters or gathered from its fields, with freshly picked herbs from their garden, his is a cuisine that invites one to dine with the rhythm of the seasons. Thank you, Venice! Thank you, Renato!