Cipriani Fine Foods, the little Venetian pantry
Here you will find eight fine food products from Cipriani: sauces and pesto for pasta, risotto rice for the creamy classic, olive oil, and red wine vinegar for everything in between. A small pantry, big impact – that is how this collection can be described in one sentence.
Cipriani Fine Foods brings together those products from the Venetian establishment that are not pasta, but are what make any pasta perfect: sauces, pesto, risotto rice, olive oil, and vinegar. Eight items, four categories, one shared commitment to reduction and flavor.
Fine food that plays the lead role in the background
A good sauce, a good oil, a good rice – these are the things that rarely take the spotlight, yet support every dish. Anyone who has ever eaten the same plate of pasta once with a mediocre sauce and once with a carefully crafted one knows how significant that difference truly is.
Cipriani calls this a question of restraint: what is truly refined does not need excess, but rather the right selection of a few, good ingredients. This attitude, born in the kitchen of Harry's Bar in Venice, runs through the entire fine food assortment, from the basil sauce to the red wine vinegar.
In Italian cuisine, these supporting ingredients are often called condimenti—the items that round out the flavor rather than replace it. That is exactly the common thread of this collection.
Details like how prominently the tomato or the herb stands out in a sauce are only revealed at your own stove, not on the label. That is why it is worth starting with a small jar and gradually adding the variety that best suits your own cooking style to your pantry.
A good pantry is not defined by its size, but by its selection: a few reliable basic ingredients you can count on when cooking spontaneously. Four categories, eight products—that is enough for an astonishing number of evenings.
Those new to Cipriani do not have to battle their way through a massive assortment. Eight products can be tried in one afternoon, and after the first pasta with Sansovina sauce or the first homemade risotto, it becomes clear which of the four categories suits your own kitchen.
Four categories under one roof
The Cipriani Fine Foods assortment is divided into four small groups: sauces and pesto for pasta, risotto rice, olive oil, and red wine vinegar.
For sauces, there are three tomato-based options to choose from: the mild Pomod'oro pasta sauce (340g), the Sansovina pasta sauce refined with basil (also 340g), and the strained Tomato Sugo Passata (690g) for larger portions or for making your own sauces. In addition, there is the Basil Pesto (180g), which is special because it contains no garlic and no cheese.
For rice, Cipriani offers Carnaroli risotto rice in a 1-kilogram pack, often referred to by connoisseurs as the king of risotto rice varieties because it releases a great deal of starch during cooking while remaining al dente. Carnaroli is grown primarily in the Po Valley of Northern Italy, in the provinces between Novara and Vercelli, where rice fields have been a tradition for centuries.
The extra virgin olive oil is available in a 500-milliliter bottle, mild and medium-fruity in character, and for that vinegar note in salads or sauces, the red wine vinegar made from Cabernet grapes is available, also in 500 milliliters.
Eight products, four categories, one goal: a pantry that covers the entire spectrum of Italian cuisine, from quick pasta to elaborate risotto.
Which sauce goes with which pasta?
With three tomato sauces in the assortment, the question quickly arises as to which one goes with what. The Pomod'oro pasta sauce is the classic, uncomplicated base, ideal for spaghetti or penne when you are short on time. The Sansovina pasta sauce brings an herbal depth through the basil, which pairs particularly well with fusilli, whose spirals carry the herb in every twist.
The Tomato Sugo Passata is the raw material among the three: strained tomatoes without many added ingredients, making it an excellent base for your own creations, perhaps refined with fresh garlic, chili, or olive oil. Those who open 690 grams at once are usually cooking for more than one person or freezing a portion for later.
The basil pesto, on the other hand, is not a tomato sauce but its own category: warmly aromatic, without garlic and cheese, making it suitable for anyone who usually avoids one of these two ingredients. With organic fusilli or trofie, it is one of the most uncomplicated combinations there is.
A small rule of thumb for practice: if you are short on time, reach for the Pomod'oro pasta sauce or the pesto, warmed directly from the jar. If you have more time and want to make your own sauce, start with the Tomato Sugo Passata as a base and refine it to your own taste with fresh herbs, chili, or a splash of red wine.
The pasta shape itself also plays a role in how well a sauce holds. Smooth, long noodles like spaghetti need a more liquid sauce that distributes evenly, while short, ridged shapes like penne rigate or fusilli hold thicker, chunky sauces well. A thick Tomato Sugo Passata, slightly reduced, therefore pairs better with rigatoni than with thin spaghettini.
From Harry's Bar to the pantry shelves
Giuseppe Cipriani opened his bar in 1931 in an alley near Piazza San Marco, named after the American Harry Pickering. What began as a bar became a fixture of Venetian cuisine over the decades, frequented by guests like Ernest Hemingway, until the Italian Ministry of Culture declared the site a national cultural monument in 2001.
Cipriani Food emerged from this kitchen, led by Giuseppe's son Arrigo Cipriani, who expanded the brand to almost thirty locations worldwide. The fine food line, which today includes sauces, pesto, rice, oil, and vinegar, is the logical continuation of this culinary philosophy: what was served at the table in Venice should also be cookable elsewhere, without compromising on the quality of the basic ingredients.
Arrigo Cipriani has always summarized his father's attitude with a simple formula: "Simplicity is the hardest thing there is." Exactly this simplicity—three to five ingredients per sauce, no unnecessary additives—is found in every jar of the fine food line.
In addition to the kitchen, Harry's Bar also made history as the birthplace of the Bellini, that cocktail of Prosecco and peach purée invented by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1948. If you get a craving for an aperitivo after your pasta dinner, you will find the right ingredients in our Cipriani Aperitivo & Drinks collection.
You can find more from this house, including the durum wheat and egg noodles, in the Cipriani Food collection, while the pasta itself awaits you in our Cipriani Durum Wheat Pasta and Cipriani Egg Pasta collections.
It is noteworthy that Cipriani built the fine food line later on, building on the reputation the establishment had earned in its own kitchen over decades. It was not the marketing department that decided what to include in the assortment, but the question of what was actually needed in one’s own kitchen—a difference you can taste.
Refining risotto, pasta, and salad the right way
For a classic risotto, you need the Carnaroli rice unwashed, so that the starch remains on the surface of the grain, giving the dish its creamy consistency. Roasted in a little butter or olive oil, then deglazed with hot broth spoon by spoon and constantly stirred, a risotto worthy of the name is created in about eighteen minutes.
Extra virgin olive oil is better suited for finishing than for high-heat searing: a drizzle over finished pasta, risotto, or simple bruschetta really brings out the mild, medium-fruity aroma. The same applies to the red wine vinegar: a dash in a salad dressing or to deglaze a pan with sautéed vegetables is usually enough.
Anyone who combines all three has a complete Italian menu with risotto, a simple green salad, and a glass of wine, all without hours of cooking.
A typical mistake with risotto: too much broth at once. Add it spoon by spoon, wait until the liquid is almost completely absorbed, only then add the next splash—this is how the famous all'onda consistency is created, creamy and wavy, moving slightly when the pan is tilted instead of sitting stiff. Finally, a piece of cold butter should be stirred in—the so-called mantecatura; it binds the starch and rounds out the aroma.
For a quick weekly menu, the four-category logic is easy to use: Mondays fusilli with basil pesto, Wednesdays risotto with Carnaroli and a splash of white wine, Fridays a simple salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar, and in between, leftovers of the Tomato Sugo Passata for a quick weeknight dinner. Four products, three evenings, hardly any effort.
Cipriani Fine Foods for your own pantry
A well-stocked pantry makes the difference between an improvised dinner and a thoughtful one, and that is exactly what this collection is for: a few basic ingredients that are always at hand for spontaneous cooking.
A small selection is particularly suitable as a gift, such as a sauce, the olive oil, and a pack of pasta packed together—an Italian cooking evening in a box; nothing more is needed. If you would like to discover further Italian delicacies, you will find what you are looking for in our selection of Italian specialties.
Shelf life always plays a role in a pantry: the sauces and pesto in jars can be stored unopened for several months; rice, oil, and vinegar even longer, so a small supply can be built up without time pressure. Once opened, the basil pesto belongs in the refrigerator, as do the tomato sauces, while oil and vinegar can sit outside without any issues.
Arrigo Cipriani likes to describe his cooking with a sentence that is easy to remember: "Good food needs three things above all: good ingredients, patience, and someone to eat it." The fine food line provides the first ingredient; you take care of the other two yourself.
Fill your pantry, and your next spontaneous cooking evening is already half-won.
