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Cuculia restaurant via dei Serragli 3/R, Florence, Oltrarno area

Cuculia is the first Florentine reality that offers contemporary cuisine in an environment that knows how to be elegant and informal at the same time. It all stems from a romantic vision shared by Roberta and Oliver who together created something that was missing in the Florentine panorama and that was accessible to all lovers of good food. Oliver Betancourt and Roberta Del Prete met for the first time in 2009 in Florence; it was immediately clear that the synergy of their skills deriving from different experiences, cultures and studies would give rise to an exceptional and romantic project. In 2012 at 3 / r Serragli road, in the heart of the Florentine Oltrarno, Cuculia was born, an elegant and refined restaurant with an international flair.

Within a relaxed and comfortable setting , the high professionalism of the chef and the haute cuisine accompany the guest in a culinary experience where it is possible to perceive from the first taste the love for cooking, goodness and freshness of raw materials, as well as the beauty of the compositions given by the search for detail. Eating at the cuculia is equivalent to traveling around the world from the comfort of a delicious restaurant in the center of the wonderful city of Florence. The name Cuculia takes up the ancient name of via de’ Serragli which in the Renaissance was known as the road of Cuculia. Numerous cuckoos with an exotic charm, a symbol of power and importance, lived here in the gardens of the nobles palaces. It is said that the Florentines crossed the Arno river only to be able to listen to its song.

Chef Oliver Betancourt

Chef Oliver Betancourt was born in Venezuela in 1976. He learns the basics of Caribbean and South American cuisine directly from the hands of the women who make up his family’s life. He soon begins to experience the kitchen as a creative space and sees in its execution a form of artistic expression.
He leaves Venezuela to study the most important cuisines in the world. In Fantainbleau in France, the Licorne restaurant (1 *) represents his first professional experience. Here he learns the cornerstones and techniques of traditional French cuisine. He continues his studies in Porto Vecchio in Corsica and learns typical dishes of the island cuisine.
Attracted by the turmoil of the nearby Spanish capital, he leaves for Madrid where he participates and wins the award for best young chef at the age of 27. In Spain he perfected his knowledge of contemporary cuisine and its avant-gardes: study and combination of products from different continents typical of fusion cuisine and techniques of the famous molecular cuisine.
Here he works alongside Juan Pablo Felipe from the Chàflan restaurant (1 *) and collaborates with chef Andrés Madrigal from the El Olivo restaurant (1 *). His fame led him to the brigade of chef Sergi Arola of which he became sous chef in the restaurant La Broche (2 *).
During his stay in Spain he is invited to culinary events and food and wine fairs, becoming in turn a master of Madrid Fusion events thanks to his international experience. In the turmoil of the Spanish capital of those years he deepens Thai and Japanese cooking techniques, collaborating with many chefs from the East.
He arrived in Italy in 2006 and studied the territorial differences of Italian cuisine from the North to the South until he founded Cuculia restaurant together with his wife Roberta Del Prete in 2012, a true act of love for cooking and the wonderful city of Florence he is in love.

Roberta Del Prete

Born in Naples in 1980, he grew up in Florence and finished his literature studies in Paris, after an artistic and theatrical training course. She approaches the culinary culture as an art form and begins her food and wine training in 2006. Manager and event organizer created the Cuculia restaurant in 2012 together with her husband Oliver Betancourt. In the dining room, thanks to his narration, the chef’s dishes are transformed into a story to tell; manages to convey, with great empathy, past and present emotions linked to the gastronomic culture. Cuculia becomes a stage where to communicate the love and commitment for their work together.