Authentic Italian Cuisine in Vilas do Atlântico

One of the last bastions of Italian cuisine in Bahia, the Il Maneggio restaurant in Vilas do Atlântico is celebrating 28 years. Leading the charge, resisting all temptations of easy marketing and quick profits, is entrepreneur Ézio Vannini, 71 years old, who has lived in Bahia for 34 years.

A native of Marsciano, in Umbria, about 150 km from Rome and a die-hard Juventus fan, Ézio never compromises on authenticity — starting with the size of the pizzas he serves. His Italian accent, still very present, helps make the case. But what seals the deal is the quality of his dough discs.

Lest anyone brand him a radical, it's worth recalling that in 2001, three years after opening, Ézio was one of the first to offer pizza rodizio in Bahia at extremely affordable prices. "We were making 500 pizzas a day on weekends," he recalls. The result was queues forming at the door of Il Maneggio — which soon irritated the Italian, always more concerned with quality than quantity.

"There is no such thing as medium, small or family size. Pizza has only one size." — Ézio Vannini

The rodizio, which still exists — Il Carosello — "was a catalyst for the restaurant, which took off from there". But the structure could not handle such high turnover, at least not with the level of service Ézio demanded. The solution was to adjust the prices. Quality, for Ézio, is far more than a speech. His expansion plans are focused on staff development. The structure is meant to stay as it is.

When he first arrived in Brazil in 1992, he tried his hand at furniture imports, "but the bureaucracy was impossible". He chose instead to invest in a beach stall in Patamares. That experience, he says, "was a university for me". Immersing himself in the depths of Bahia, the newcomer came to know all the characters that inhabit the sands of the state capital.

The sea "is Salvador's strength", he believes. But the utter chaos of the beach stall environment soon led him to bet on the space next to the Equus Clube do Cavalo, where he eventually set up Il Maneggio — an Italian name linked to the practice of horse riding.

The idea had every reason to fail. Previous attempts to open a restaurant on the premises had already ended in losses. But it also had a chance of succeeding, since Ézio could finally put his ideas into practice: planning, control, specialisation, quality. It took USD 100,000 invested over two years before the business started paying for itself.

Ézio knew he was swimming against the tide. Faced with a public more accustomed to moqueca than porchetta, he insisted on offering dry, high-quality Italian red wines rather than the sweeter ones more to local taste. "Today it's different: of the 50 bottles we sell a week, 45 are dry wines," he reveals. The local clientele refined its habits and began to appreciate the house specialties.

In this respect, the restaurant grew with the neighbourhood, which has also become more sophisticated. Today, the infrastructure of Vilas do Atlântico also serves the surrounding and rapidly growing population. "Vilas is going to become a Pituba," Ézio says with emphasis. "The downside is that infrastructure hasn't kept up — the streets are still the same."

Not that Il Maneggio can afford to do without the customers who come in, but the idea remains the same: quality over quantity is what matters to Ézio. His priority for the coming years is to improve service — "a major problem in Bahia", he says. Despite having a few team members who have been with him since the beach stall days, Ézio never stops investing in staff training, even offering financial support to those who want to take courses or learn to read. "Having good character is important," he reflects. "I am very grateful for the team I have — people who have helped me enormously." They are serious, honest people who are part of these 28 years.