Non Solo Vino & Farm Food
Book a tasting

The work, in pictures

Gallery

Moments from cellars, kitchens, vineyards and the garden in Melle.

The kitchen at Melle
The kitchen at Melle
The farmhouse, Borgata Biule
The farmhouse, Borgata Biule
Toward Monviso, from the table
Toward Monviso, from the table
A tasting at the table
A tasting at the table
Aldo, portrait
Aldo, portrait
Above Melle, the Varaita valley
Above Melle, the Varaita valley
Terrace, Varaita valley
Terrace, Varaita valley
Monviso, beyond the rooftops
Monviso, beyond the rooftops
A glass, Piedmont
A glass, Piedmont
Fresh tajarin, pulled by hand
Fresh tajarin, pulled by hand
The house in the hills
The house in the hills
Hostaria Pane e Vino, Ludlow
Hostaria Pane e Vino, Ludlow
Bar and wine rack, Borgata Biule
Bar and wine rack, Borgata Biule
Tasting, private dinner
Tasting, private dinner
Kitchen, Melle
Kitchen, Melle
Mise en place
Mise en place
Evening service
Evening service
At the table
At the table
Garden-to-plate, Borgata Biule
Garden-to-plate, Borgata Biule
A long service
A long service

Opening lunch · km 0

From the day — 29 August 2026

See the events →
  • The vegetable patch
  • Antipasti, laid out
  • Wild boar ragù on the stove
The Monviso, across the valley
The Monviso, across the valley
The terrace, laid for lunch
The terrace, laid for lunch
A table set under the trees
A table set under the trees
Antipasti from the garden
Antipasti from the garden
The buffet, before service
The buffet, before service
Aldo in the kitchen
Aldo in the kitchen
Serving the first plates
Serving the first plates
The buffet, and the queue for it
The buffet, and the queue for it
Guests at the long table
Guests at the long table

About Aldo

Fifty years at the table.

From a hotel-school boy on Lake Garda to First Barman of Europe, the dining room of the Love Boat and an award-winning Italian restaurant in rural Wales — before coming home to Italian wine.

  1. 1974

    Villa Cortine Palace Hotel, Sirmione

    Aldo grew up with very little. At fourteen, after an accident left his father unable to work, he enrolled at the state hotel school, paying his way as a waiter. In his first year he was already at Villa Cortine on Lake Garda — Maria Callas’s Sirmione — and at fifteen he was serving cocktails on his own.

  2. 1976

    Hotel Atlantic Kempinski, Hamburg

    At sixteen he went to Germany, to the Atlantic in Hamburg. After graduating at seventeen he carried on working abroad, in France and Spain.

  3. 1978

    Hotel Due Torri, Verona

    Back in Italy, a year as assistant barman at the historic five-star Due Torri, where he joined AIBES, the Italian bartenders’ association, and became second barman.

  4. 1979–81

    Police service, Milan

    For his national service he joined the police, working extra shifts at the Principe di Savoia and the Excelsior Gallia — until he was seriously wounded on duty.

  5. 1982

    Savini and Alfio Cavour, Milan

    He started again as chef de rang at Savini in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and went on to manage Alfio Cavour in Via Senato. At table: President Sandro Pertini, Vladimir Horowitz, Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra.

  6. 1983

    First Barman of Europe

    Competing with his own cocktails across Europe, he was named First Barman of Europe — and RAI 1 came to film him.

  7. 1986–88

    The Love Boat

    Dining room captain on the famous cruise ship, sailing around the world more than five times — Alaska, Australia, Japan, China, the Americas.

  8. 1989–2000

    Seguendo di Stagioni, Wales

    In rural Wales he opened an Italian restaurant and deli, then a wine merchant’s, linking Welsh and Italian artisan food. In 1996 The Independent on Sunday named the restaurant among the 20 best in Britain, the Good Food Guide made it Country Restaurant of the Year, and Tatler counted its wine list among the three most authentic Italian lists in the country. He learned some Welsh, too.

  9. 2004

    Non Solo Vino, Verona

    Back in his native Verona, he worked as an export manager for Italian wineries and founded Non Solo Vino as a wine and culture association.

  10. 2010

    San Bonifacio

    Alongside the Non Solo Vino & Co consultancy, he opened a small wine boutique in San Bonifacio, and lectured at Vinitaly in 2011. Since 2012 he has also campaigned for people living in poverty.

“True ideals in life are the bread and butter of our soul.”

— Aldo

Archive

Press & Features

A small selection of features and articles over the years.

  • 2019

    Ludlow Food Festival

    The passion of an Italian

    Aldo Steccanella demonstrates his skills at the UK's most respected food festival — staging his second food festival in the British market.

  • 2018

    Hostaria Pane e Vino

    A horsebox, a hearth, a bottle of Barolo

    From a converted horsebox to a garden kitchen in the Alps — how a Piedmontese sommelier brought the hostaria to British food festivals.

  • 2022

    Stampa regionale

    Fresh pasta in Borgata Biule

    Classes at the farm introduce visitors to the slow craft of regional pasta — tajarin, ravioli del plin, agnolotti — rolled by hand on a wooden board.