Matteo Shares the Story Behind Their New Italian Restaurant

The 28-year-old Filipino-Italian hottie, Matteo Guidicelli, was born and raised in his mother Glenna’s hometown, Cebu but also spent summers in his father Gianluca’s country, Italy.

Mateo Guidicelli have already made his mark in the show business industry as an actor, model, singer and had also succeeded as a triathlete, jean designer and a restaurateur.

Recently, Mateo shares his life on and off-cam during a visit to their family-owned restaurant in Alabang Muntinlupa which is Da Ginanni Cucina. Da Ginanni Cucina is the second restaurant his family owned and their first one is the Trattoria da Gianni which is in Cebu.

Mommy Glenna and young Matteo.

During Mateo’s taping of his 2016 teleserye Dolce Amore, he gets excited to reminisce and connect his memories and experiences with his character as Giancarlo who grew up in Italy with Liza Soberano’s role.

Giancarlo (Mateo Guidecelli) and Serana (Liza Soberano) behind the scenes in Dolce Amore

One of the place where Matteo and Liza shot their scenes is in Venece, where Matteo’s nonno (or grandfather in Italian) hails from.

Matteo and his sister Giorgia in their Boy Scout and Girl Scout uniforms.

Matteo’s sister Giorgia Guidicelli, is the one who manages their family’s restaurant in Cebu and in Albang. According to her, “When we went [in Italy] as kids, we always fought,”. “So when we go to museums and stuff, parang we just wasted money, because we just fought the whole time. But now that we’re older, I guess we’re more tolerant with each other.”

Matteo also shares his unforgettable place in Italy and it happens to be one of the location for their shot in Dolce Amore, he said, “In Bologna, there’s a nice restaurant called Donnatello. I was always eating there. It’s really good.” He also shares some photo taken in their recent trip in Italy where it shows the Italian side in him and he captioned it with “Wine for brunch, lunch, merienda, and dinner.”

He also added that he still adopt their Italian drinking culture even when he’s here in the Philippines, as he said, “Everybody in the afternoon after work, they [Italians] have Aperol Spritz, cocktails,” “Like at 4 or 5 p.m., everybody’s with this wineglass that’s orange and then they’re just chilling there. Then later, they’ll have wine. When I came back to the Philippines, [I drink] Aperol Spritz, so at 4 in the afternoon, lasing na ako.”

LIVING AS A GUIDICELLI

Matteo said that living in a Filipino and Italian culture is basically the same as he points out that, “There are many similarities,” “We’re very religious, kumbaga the Catholic culture is very prominent in both cultures. And the food. Pinoys love eating, Italians love eating. So they blend so much together.”

He alsp shares his dining experience with his mother’s side (the Fernans) and his father’s side (the Guidicellis), as he said, “When we go to my other Lola’s house, we eat Filipino food. Our Italian side is always Italian, even the water. We always eat together—breakfast, lunch, dinner. It’s strongly like the Filipino culture. When you go to my Nonno and Nonna’s house, it’s like a place in Italy, because even the table clothing, the smell, everything.”

Matteo’s sister Giorgia also shares and describes their place in Cebu as their “little Italy.”

The Guidicelli Christmas family portrait—(Left to Right) Matteo, Mommy Glenna, Daddy Gianluca, Paolo, and Giorgia.

Matteo also admits that he is more Filipino than Italian as he says, “I’ve always felt I was a Cebuano, the Italian [side] started to kick in, I think, in high school, especially when our grandparents passed away. That’s when we said ‘You know, we really have to preserve this Italian culture and make them proud.’ That’s why our restaurant in Cebu, Trattoria da Gianni, started four years ago.”

The Guidicellis’ Da Gianni Cucina restaurant is a second home for them.

Matteo also shares the story behind their restaurant in Alabang, Da Gianni Cucina Italiana, or Da Gianni, as he explained that they planned the restaurant seven months ago. It is their way to preserve their memories and experiences with their grandparents, especially the food they serve in their table at home. That explained the cozy dining place filled with memorabilia and photos of their grandparents.

Small wonder then that the cozy dining place is filled with photos and memorabilia of Gianni and Franca whom the whole family lovingly calls Nonno and Nonna and their restaurant were named after them. According to Matteo, “The menu here is all the stuff we ate growing up.

When you come into the restaurant, you experience a part of our home.” He also added that all the dishes they serve in their restaurant are all from fresh ingredients and not from “the canned ones you can buy in the grocery.”

Memories of their late grandparents Nonno and Nonna

In his interview, Matteo jokingly warns the interviewer about his grandsparents as he says “You’re gonna make me cry here,”. Indeed it only shows that Matteo, as the first grandson of the Guidicellis, is very close with his grandparents. Matteo talks about his Nonno as he says, “You cannot procrastinate with him. If he tells you to do something, you have to do it right away. Not tomorrow, but today. Nonno was a very passionate guy. Whatever he did, he was very passionate about it.”

He also added that, “In a dinner, he was always the first one to finish eating, stand up, and go around the table to talk to people. He was like the entertainer. He was like the ‘good vibes’ of the whole table. Well I guess, the way Nonno likes to talk, likes to interact to people, I enjoyed it, e. I enjoy talking to people.”

He also shares how protective his Nonna which he gathered from his mother and some of their yaya, according to him, “When I was a baby, nobody was allowed to touch me. Kailangan may alcohol bago mahawakan ako. Mga ganyan. So I guess, I’m [also] very protective of my sister.”

Guidecilli’s Da Gianni is located at the Westgate Center in Filinvest City Alabang, Muntinlupa and it offers steaks, dessert and their authentic Italian dishes such as pizza, pasta, salad, antipasti and risotto and they also serve Filipino breakfast. Aside from their food they also serve liquor and coffee that you must try too. If you want to try their restaurant, Da Gianni is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. only and reservations are recommended. Call (02) 2469072.

Busy, Busy Matteo

Aside from being busy with their family’s restaurants, Matteo is also into designing jeans actually he’s set to launch his first 2020 denim jeans collection in collaboration with the fashion designer Avel Bacudio which they called Avel X Matteo.

The 2020 collection is a set of 20 hand-painted jeans female and 20 for male which Matteo describes it as “wilder’ because of it’s unique and more ripped design than the first collection. Matteo also shares that like their first collection, a percentage of the earnings in their second collection will be donated for the blind in the North Luzon Association in Baguio.

Source: lifestyle.abs-cbn