The Piemonte entrepreneur who makes the most famous ravioli in France

A beautiful story of Italian female entrepreneurship in France: Menton’s lemon ravioli. The idea came from Luisa Delpiano Inversi, Turin-born - who’s also a bit French on her mother's side - who started spending her holidays in the Menton area since 2006. She fell in love with it and started to think about opening a business there and moving to the Côte d'Azur. In her “first life” she was an Equal Opportunities Councilor of the College of Industrial Experts and founded Pari Opportunità Italia on Linkedin, but from the time she was a young girl she had a dream of being a cook. A passion she then passed on to her son Riccardo.

Pasta Piemonte

And what better business than the production of fresh pasta, a Piemonte classic? Six months of apprenticeship at a pasta maker in Cuneo, then, having found the right place in the centre of Menton - 34, rue Partouneaux - she imagined a logo with the Savoy coat of arms and the name in Italian: Pasta Piemonte.

On the 5th of August 2013, ten years ago, the shop opened selling gnocchi, tajarin, agnolotti. But what made Pasta Piemonte famous was the invention of the ravioli with Menton Lemon IGP, a winner. So Pasta Piemonte entered the Collège Culinaire de France, the national Stars et Metiers competition awarded it the Prize for Sustainability and the Grand Prize for Craftsmanship. And Luisa Delpiano becomes Côte d'Azur France Brand Ambassador.

The company joined Pourdebon, a French company that unites cold logistics and high quality food producers: with this system, food products entered into the circuit are delivered cold throughout France within 24 hours, both to producers and to private individuals. The decision to be digitally aligned and e-commerce enabled the pasta factory to overcome the pandemic in a big way, indeed to increase its clientele. In Paris as in Monte Carlo, several restaurants now use its fresh pasta, and Luisa Delpiano is often a guest on national TV to tell her adventure of female entrepreneurship and her lemon ravioli, a must.

How are the lemon ravioli made

All the fresh pasta produced by Pasta Piemonte follows the Disciplinare dell'eccellenza artigianale del Piemonte (specification of local craft excellence) and uses organic ingredients: white flour from Molino Pasini del Mantovano, fresh eggs and water. The Menton lemon filling is prepared with a texture of ricotta and grana padano dop, Menton IGP lemon peel and juice, salt, pepper, and sometimes, depending on the cheese’s moisture content, a little breadcrumbs. The lemons are of course untreated and the Menton lemon ravioli trademark is registered.

DUME in Turin, Italy’s premiere

Now the lemon ravioli from Menton are available exclusively in Turin at DUME, a beautiful contemporary restaurant in the heart of old Turin, in the scenic Galleria Umberto I in Porta Palazzo, which has the atmosphere of a Parisian passage. Recently opened by Edoardo Dumeri, DUME originally only offered stuffed potatoes: now it still does, but the offer has expanded to include plates, with even transversal proposals with international touch and fine focaccias. Easy, pleasing dining at a reasonable price. And a few days ago they added the legendary lemon ravioli.

Dumeri met Luisa Delpiano - “an incredible woman, full of energy and creativity” - and together they decided to bring ravioli from Menton to Turin. They arrive once a week and are offered in classic combinations, such as brown butter (with citrus fruits) and sage; or broccoli, grana cheese and hazelnuts; or with vegetable jus and ginger. We tasted them for the first time: they are very good, a little smaller than usual, compact but soft texture, the filling pleasantly citrusy but without excess. The three seasonings enhance the ravioli well, without covering the flavour. Even in the birthplace of agnolotto, lemon ravioli are popular. From Menton to Turin, a return to the origins in a citrusy, marine version: a must-try.