On 27 November 2024 we cut the ribbon at San Bernardo Restaurant in Calci. Two years have passed, and in recent days several publications have written about us again. We have brought their articles together to look back at the road so far.
November 2024: the ribbon cutting
La Nazione reports the opening of an “evocative and characterful” restaurant on Monte Serra, in the heart of the Valgraziosa. It is run by three siblings from Calci, Eva, Nico and Juri Poli: Juri in the kitchen, Eva in marketing and languages, Nico in sales and team management.
The ribbon cutting is attended by the mayor of Calci, Massimiliano Ghimenti, the councillor for Commerce, Fabio Mencarelli, and Confcommercio Pisa. The mayor speaks of “a good sign”, Confcommercio's director Federico Pieragnoli of businesses that are “essential to the local economy”. The stated goal is simple: bring the place back to life and celebrate local cooking, with seasonal ingredients from the mountain.
The restoration: thirty hectares and a hermitage
The estate had been closed for six years. As well as the restaurant, it includes the Hermitage of San Bernardo, a small stone church, and about 30 hectares of land, partly damaged by fire. Since spring 2024 the buildings have been brought up to standard and the systems, interiors, exteriors and gazebo redone. The siblings' father, a carpenter, designed and built the olive-wood furniture.
Meanwhile Nico, as AgenFood, HorecaNews and Sapori News report, has devoted himself to the natural park with a group of young people, while Eva has started local partnerships for activities connected with wellbeing and nature.
From the first winter to today
In our first winter, in 2025, we served about 100 covers a month. By early summer we were at 90 a week, and the team had grown from five to eight people.
November 2026: our cooking in the press
Two years on, AgenFood, HorecaNews and Sapori News focus above all on the cooking. Chef Juri Poli, 26, has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants such as DaGorini and De Librije, as well as La Ripa in Vieste, and trained at ALMA in Parma. He starts from family recipes and reinterprets them with contemporary techniques: ferments, cooking over embers, home-made sauces and oils, bread and breadsticks made with sourdough and organic flours from ancient Tuscan grains. The olive oil comes from the estate's trees.
Alongside the à la carte menu, which changes with the seasons, there are four tasting menus:
- Echoes of the past, 4 courses devoted to the traditions of Calci, from stewed rabbit to suckling pig cooked in butter.
- Deep roots, 5 courses from the Tuscan mountains, with stewed hare, venison tortello and grilled beef.
- Free essence, 6 courses of ferments and ingredient recovery, with pigeon and grilled wood pigeon.
- The voice of the earth, the vegetarian menu of up to 6 courses.
The articles (in Italian): AgenFood, HorecaNews and Sapori News. CiboToday has also told the story of the restoration: see CiboToday on San Bernardo.
What comes next
The next step is the bed & breakfast among the estate's olive trees, due to open in summer 2027. Meanwhile the cooking keeps changing with the seasons, and the mountain keeps coming back to life.
All the articles about us are on our press page. And if you want to see San Bernardo as it is today, book a table.