Margherita Cardelli Cavaliere and Gerardo Cavaliere: ‘You don’t leave the table until the important discussion gets resolved’
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The third wheel on Margherita Cardelli and Gerardo Cavaliere’s first-ever romantic weekend away was a ball of mozzarella. “Gerardo arrived in Rome from Paestum with two kilos of it in the back of the car,” recalls Margherita, “and we drove to the mountains with a bottle of wine and ate it with our hands.” Since then food has been the love language of the founders of the tailoring brand Giuliva Heritage. “We’re obsessed with sharing meals together. It’s at the base of everything we do.”
Sunday lunch is the big gastronomic event for the couple, who now have two small daughters. “It’s a moment where you regroup with your people. Traditionally it was very rare to share Sunday lunch at home with people who aren’t family,” Margherita says. “But times have changed and we’re not living close to our relatives any more, so guests are friends, but always people we love. It’s all about nurturing relationships that mean something for you, and consuming while you do that.”
They serve fresh produce grown by people they know. Gerardo’s family has a farm in Serrano, which he travels to most weeks, always bringing back something: this time strawberries, cherries, asparagus and fava beans. “I only get meat from my father-in-law or farmers I know; 99 per cent of the time the only things I buy from the supermarket are cleaning products and Prosciutto di San Daniele and Parmigiano Reggiano – amazing Italian produce that is not from our region.”
Sunday lunch is also a time for important discussions – “and you don’t leave the table until the thing gets resolved”, says Margherita. “The only ones who can get up as soon as they finish are the kids.” But the atmosphere is informal. “We serve the Italian way and put all the trays in the middle of the table. Someone might eat up close to the open window and another seated. It’s casual-cosy.” After the pasta course (the preferred family pasta shape is mezza rigatoni) everyone partakes of that particularly Italian habit of mopping up the remaining sauce on their plates with a corner of fresh bread: “fare la scarpetta” (“to do the little shoe”). “Even at formal events, we do it,” says Margherita. “It makes me laugh, because when we do it people seem to love it. Then everybody’s doing la scarpetta.”
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