Re di Cuori near Padua, a nice success for the three brothers specialised in delivery pizza

Ponso is a small village south of Padua surrounded by vineyards and orchards, a community of little over two thousand people. Here, in 2007, after a decade learning the ropes and juggling two jobs Matteo Rundo decided to start the adventure of a lifetime: pizzeria Re di Cuori (Via Vittorio 47. Tel. +39 0429 656806). 

Until that moment, nobody in the family had ever worked in the restaurant business, nor had they had anything to do with pizzas. Yet through admirable study and dedication, and a practical no-frill attitude, he established and grew the business, attracting first Alberto and then Andrea, his younger brothers.

A special aspect immediately differentiated the business: here, unless you want to give a quick bite from one of the tables outside, they have always worked with delivery. Re di Cuori’s forte for many years came useful in these weeks. «We were already very equipped for delivery – Alberto explains. –

We have 3 scooters and 4 cars that can easily cover the entire area, with a range of some 10 km and 15 minutes, a timing that we set so as to pull out of the oven an order, deliver it and move to the next».

«After closing for 15 days, at the beginning of this difficult moment, we decided to get back to work and guarantee the service to our clients, of course while respecting the health and hygiene regulations that are mandatory both to safeguard our work and to deliver in safety. People rewarded us: we have increased deliveries a lot, in some moments we weren’t even able to satisfy all the orders we got, for over 400 pizzas. Management is essential and, in this situation,, we made use of all our experience: we’re satisfied with how things are going.

We’re 19 people at work here, each one with a specific role: pizzaioli, the girls finishing the pizzas and at the call centre, the guys by the oven... Even our father is helping out, organising and fine tuning the itineraries of our 7 drivers».

Their know-how and specialty had already proven useful three years ago when the Rundos tripled the space and moved from the small 60 sqm place of their debut, to a larger one, 170 sqm. There’s more: they even increased the offer. On top of the classic one, they added the one alla pala. «The final input for this leap –Alberto says – came from the classes at the Università della Pizza® and at the Scuola del Molino which Andrea and I attended in different moments, on top of the many hours of training. Being close to Molino Quaglia, only a few minutes from our pizzeria, has certainly had an impact: we couldn’t miss the opportunity to learn every secret on flour, yeast, dough, cooking and fine tuning of the recipes».

The current menu at Re di Cuori includes a classic dough blend (for the round pizza they use Special and Più ricca); whole wheat (100% Petra 9); two version of pizza pizza in pala (the first with a poolish of Petra 9 and refreshed with Petra 1, 3 and 9; the other with Petra 5037 “Unica”, with high hydration and suitable for long leavening, soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside, which can stand very well the weight of the topping without becoming too humid).