There are so many reasons to visit Ventotene, one of the Pontine Island’s off Italy’s Coast of Gaeta, home to fewer than 900 locals in off-season and important marine and nature reserves prohibiting urban growth of any kind.

Exploiting the island’s remote location, some 2,000 years ago Romans hand-carved a port from the island’s tufa basin to provide access to Villa Giulia, place of exile for Augustus’s daughter Julia. Today the porto romano, one of countless extant examples of Roman architectural ingenuity, remains an active port for deliveries from the mainland and for local fishermen who provide the island’s main food source. It was this, the promise of uber-fresh seafood caught and prepared by locals, that lead me to lunch at Il Giardino.

The two cooks at Il Giardino, Candida and Christian (pictured below), would not seem to have much in common if it weren’t for their shared passion for this wondrous tiny island. United by a dedication to delivering quality dishes to locals and tourists alike, the two work side-by-side in a tireless effort to provide traditional yet innovative food experiences. 

Christian is from Ecuador and has lived in Italy for over a decade. He moved to Ventotene after living six years in Rome, during which time he was chef assistant to French culinary scene-stealer Giovanni Passerini at the acclaimed Roman establishment, Uno e Bino (now closed). Today Christian works alongside the restaurant founders, Candida and Giovanni, who opened Il Giardino over thirty years ago, together with the owners’ children.

In the kitchen, island native Candida’s extensive cooking experience and knowledge of the island—its abundance and limitations—pair perfectly with Christian’s flair and hard-won expertise, resulting in dishes that are at once harmonious, delectable, and beautiful to behold. 

In keeping with co-owner Giovanni’s vision, Il Giardino uses only products available on Ventotene. This means no or very little meat. As Candida explains, birds are protected on this migratory stopover island, and are thus by default ‘off the menu’. With no livestock farms here either, the cooks could pick up some pre-packaged meats delivered from the mainland, yet doing so would not be in line with the restaurant’s philosophy. Neither is there any game to hunt on Ventotene, save the occasional rabbit, which local hunters sell to Candida from time to time. 

Outside sporadic windfalls of this kind, the menu at Il Giardino is based exclusively on fish and seafood—selected each morning at the port by Giovanni himself—and the fairly bountiful vegetables grown on the island: onion, tomato, zucchini, eggplant, peas, artichokes, lentils, and potatoes.

Working within the limitations of this island life is surely a challenge, and no doubt lesser cooks would falter. These two have absolutely flourished. Have a look at the two astonishing dishes Christian prepared, using only the seasonal, fresh ingredients favored by the restaurant:

For the fried zucchini flower starter, the flower is filled with ricotta and pecorino, then lightly fried to perfection. But what renders this dish a tour de force is Christian’s trademark confit, made by oven-cooking Pachino tomatoes low and slow (at 100 °C for 3 hours) with clove, lemon zest, and powdered sugar:

The ricciola carpaccio is marinated in extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, served with an orange emulsion, fresh fennel, delicate pea shoots, and capers. You will be forever dubious of cooked fish after tasting this melt-in-your-mouth stunner!

Ventotene bursts with visitors in summertime, a stark contrast to its quiet, empty, and altogether windy winter season (its name derives from vento, Italian for “wind”). The summer season peaks with ten days of festivities leading up to September 20, the feast day of the island’s patron saint (also named Candida). When I arrived, the Candida celebrations had just concluded. The island atmosphere was at once thrillingly blustery and peaceful, with few tourists in sight as I wandered the narrow streets and sun-showered miniature piazzas, and—in one of those remarkably fortuitous moments solo travel can bring—came to know the faces and flavors of Il Giardino.