Cuculia, in the Heart of Florence’s Oltrarno District
Contemporary Restaurant in Florence
For over thirteen years, Cuculia has been rooted in the heart of the Oltrarno, Florence’s most authentic and creative district. From the very beginning, the project took shape through the encounter between chef Oliver Betancourt and maître and sommelier Roberta Del Prete, founders of the restaurant and still today a daily presence between kitchen and dining room.
Cuculia expresses a contemporary vision of hospitality and dining in Florence. A place shaped over time through research, identity and a cuisine capable of standing out within Florence’s gastronomic scene while maintaining a deep connection with the territory and Tuscan culinary tradition.
Cuculia is a place lived every day by the people who imagined it and helped it grow over the years, where cuisine, hospitality and research coexist in an authentic and natural way
Thirty Years of Gastronomic Research Between Cultures and Italian Tradition
Chef Oliver Betancourt
From South American Roots to International Gastronomic Avant-Garde
Born in Venezuela in 1976, Oliver Betancourt discovered cooking through the Caribbean and South American traditions passed down within his family, developing from an early age a vision of gastronomy as both a cultural language and a form of expression.
Over more than thirty years of international experience, his journey has taken him through France, Corsica, Spain and Italy, immersing him in some of the most influential realities of contemporary European cuisine. From his training in classical French gastronomy to the technical and creative research developed over the years, Oliver has shaped a personal culinary style that brings together gastronomic memory, technique and contemporary sensibility.
In Madrid, he became part of the Spanish gastronomic avant-garde, working in the kitchens of chefs such as Juan Pablo Felipe, Andres Madrigal and Sergi Arola. During these years, he deepened his exploration of innovative culinary languages, from molecular gastronomy to Japanese and Thai influences, while participating in international events such as Madrid Fusión.
In 2006, he chose Florence to further explore Italian culinary culture and its regional traditions. It was in Florence’s Oltrarno district that, together with Roberta Del Prete, he founded Cuculia — an independent project that today stands among the most distinctive contemporary dining destinations in Florence.
Oliver Betancourt’s cuisine continues to evolve through fermentation, technique and cultural influences, maintaining a refined balance between international identity, contemporary sensibility and Italian tradition.
Roberta Del Prete
Manager and sommelier
Born in Naples in 1980, Roberta Del Prete grew up in Florence and completed her studies in literature in Paris, following an artistic and theatrical education that deeply shaped her approach to hospitality and gastronomic storytelling.
She entered the world of food and wine in 2006, immediately embracing it as a cultural space where cuisine, wine, and human experience coexist in harmony. Manager, maître d’ and sommelier, Roberta Del Prete is now the leading figure behind the hospitality experience at Cuculia. She oversees the dining room, curates the wine selection, and creates pairings designed to enhance and complement the cuisine of chef Oliver Betancourt.
In 2012, together with her husband, she founded Cuculia, helping it grow and evolve over the years into a distinctive and widely recognized presence within Florence’s gastronomic scene. Her managerial vision, combined with a deep human sensitivity, has transformed the restaurant into a place where hospitality, culture, and culinary research constantly interact.
In the dining room, her storytelling goes beyond the technical description of a dish: it invites guests into the creative vision behind each creation, weaving together memory, territory, emotion, and contemporary research. Every experience becomes a shared narrative, creating an authentic connection between cuisine, wine, and people.
The name Cuculia
The name Cuculia traces its roots back to Renaissance Florence. Via dei Serragli was once known as the street of the Cuculia because of the many exotic cuckoo birds kept in the gardens and at the entrances of the noble palaces along the street, considered symbols of fortune, wonder and prestige.
It is said that there were so many of them in Via dei Serragli that Florentines would cross the Arno River simply to listen to their song.
Still today, Cuculia, restaurant and bookstore, preserves that same spirit of discovery, encounter and fascination in the heart of Florence’s Oltrarno district.