genesis
Sfoglia Rina came to light in 1963 in Casalecchio di Reno, when Rina De Franceschi opened a humble atelier of fresh pasta. It was an era when the domestic sphere was shifting: more and more women ventured into worldly professions, and the daily alchemy of rolling the dough—once a sacred art guarded within hearths and family secrets—began to find a new sanctuary in neighborhood workshops.
It is a narrative of intimacy, of hands, and of the hearth. Around Rina grew an enterprise both familial and artisanal, shaped by the work wooden board, flour, the rolling pin, and faithful continuity. Later, Lorenzo Scandellari, her grandson, would enter the workshop, destined to inherit not merely a trade, but a philosophy of pasta as a daily, poetic presence.
In Bologna, Lorenzo crossed paths with Catherine Vancaenegem, a young Belgian university student. What blossomed as a personal bond would evolve over the years into a profound professional partnership: Catherine infused Sfoglia Rina with an external perspective, forged far from Bolognese tradition, yet uniquely capable of interpreting its contemporary potential.
In the early years of the new millennium, the workshop began to reveal its fragility: its venerable clientele was aging, the neighborhood offered little renewal, and the danger loomed that this rich heritage might remain crystallized in nostalgia. Lorenzo and Catherine then began to envision an evolution: not to betray the workshop, but to bestow a future upon it.
The first crucial turning point was the relocation to the heart of Casalecchio, featuring a proper kitchen designed not only to offer fresh pasta but also to serve prepared dishes, curated with heightened culinary mindfulness. Thus, alongside the grandmother's legacy, a new reverence emerged for raw materials, the precision of recipes, and the nobility of ingredients.
This inspiration was also drawn from a convivial model Catherine had known in Northern Europe: spaces where one could purchase, but also linger, sit, and share. Why not bestow the same destiny upon pasta?
Sfoglia Rina thus transformed into something distinct from a restaurant yet more expansive than a boutique: a fresh pasta laboratory that serves its own creations. Untethered from pretense or rigid rituals, yet never losing the core of its identity. The pasta remains the soul: crafted by hand, sold at the counter, and graced upon the table.
alchemy
The enchantments of Sfoglia Rina journey along two paths: fidelity to the Bolognese grammar and a more botanical, seasonal, and contemporary sensibility.
Upon the altar of tradition, the two crown jewels are the Tortellino and the green Lasagna. The former is the quintessential creation: demanding time, manual mastery, and absolute precision, it represents a foundational pillar of daily devotion. The latter, conversely, whispers of a generous yet measured classicism, not overly "besciamellosa," true to Bolognese memory yet possessed of a more modern clarity.
Alongside these classics, Sfoglia Rina has woven over the years an ever-expanding catalog of vegetarian and vegan filled pastas. Not as a concession to fleeting vanity, but as a natural extension of Italian gastronomy, which has eternally embraced plant-based fare—rustic, essential, and often devoid of animal ingredients long before the world conceived the term "vegan."
From this philosophy arise polychromatic doughs and seasonal fillings: a dark pasta stained with vegetable charcoal cradling a filling of pappa al pomodoro, a coffee-infused dough with sunchoke and cardoon, and doughs revivified by spinach and red beetroot. Here, color is not mere ornament, but vitality itself: a means to bestow substance, character, and narrative even upon eggless pasta.
The seasonal menu evolves frequently, to truly honor the ephemerality of local harvest at its absolute zenith. It is here that the bottega of 1963 encounters the present: in safeguarding the sacred tortellino and in opening the folded dough to new possibilities, without ever losing the pristine gesture from which all life began.
provenance
genesis
Sfoglia Rina came to light in 1963 in Casalecchio di Reno, when Rina De Franceschi opened a humble atelier of fresh pasta. It was an era when the domestic sphere was shifting: more and more women ventured into worldly professions, and the daily alchemy of rolling the dough—once a sacred art guarded within hearths and family secrets—began to find a new sanctuary in neighborhood workshops.
It is a narrative of intimacy, of hands, and of the hearth. Around Rina grew an enterprise both familial and artisanal, shaped by the work wooden board, flour, the rolling pin, and faithful continuity. Later, Lorenzo Scandellari, her grandson, would enter the workshop, destined to inherit not merely a trade, but a philosophy of pasta as a daily, poetic presence.
In Bologna, Lorenzo crossed paths with Catherine Vancaenegem, a young Belgian university student. What blossomed as a personal bond would evolve over the years into a profound professional partnership: Catherine infused Sfoglia Rina with an external perspective, forged far from Bolognese tradition, yet uniquely capable of interpreting its contemporary potential.
In the early years of the new millennium, the workshop began to reveal its fragility: its venerable clientele was aging, the neighborhood offered little renewal, and the danger loomed that this rich heritage might remain crystallized in nostalgia. Lorenzo and Catherine then began to envision an evolution: not to betray the workshop, but to bestow a future upon it.
The first crucial turning point was the relocation to the heart of Casalecchio, featuring a proper kitchen designed not only to offer fresh pasta but also to serve prepared dishes, curated with heightened culinary mindfulness. Thus, alongside the grandmother's legacy, a new reverence emerged for raw materials, the precision of recipes, and the nobility of ingredients.
This inspiration was also drawn from a convivial model Catherine had known in Northern Europe: spaces where one could purchase, but also linger, sit, and share. Why not bestow the same destiny upon pasta?
Sfoglia Rina thus transformed into something distinct from a restaurant yet more expansive than a boutique: a fresh pasta laboratory that serves its own creations. Untethered from pretense or rigid rituals, yet never losing the core of its identity. The pasta remains the soul: crafted by hand, sold at the counter, and graced upon the table.
alchemy
The enchantments of Sfoglia Rina journey along two paths: fidelity to the Bolognese grammar and a more botanical, seasonal, and contemporary sensibility.
Upon the altar of tradition, the two crown jewels are the Tortellino and the green Lasagna. The former is the quintessential creation: demanding time, manual mastery, and absolute precision, it represents a foundational pillar of daily devotion. The latter, conversely, whispers of a generous yet measured classicism, not overly "besciamellosa," true to Bolognese memory yet possessed of a more modern clarity.
Alongside these classics, Sfoglia Rina has woven over the years an ever-expanding catalog of vegetarian and vegan filled pastas. Not as a concession to fleeting vanity, but as a natural extension of Italian gastronomy, which has eternally embraced plant-based fare—rustic, essential, and often devoid of animal ingredients long before the world conceived the term "vegan."
From this philosophy arise polychromatic doughs and seasonal fillings: a dark pasta stained with vegetable charcoal cradling a filling of pappa al pomodoro, a coffee-infused dough with sunchoke and cardoon, and doughs revivified by spinach and red beetroot. Here, color is not mere ornament, but vitality itself: a means to bestow substance, character, and narrative even upon eggless pasta.
The seasonal menu evolves frequently, to truly honor the ephemerality of local harvest at its absolute zenith. It is here that the bottega of 1963 encounters the present: in safeguarding the sacred tortellino and in opening the folded dough to new possibilities, without ever losing the pristine gesture from which all life began.
provenance
genesis
Sfoglia Rina came to light in 1963 in Casalecchio di Reno, when Rina De Franceschi opened a humble atelier of fresh pasta. It was an era when the domestic sphere was shifting: more and more women ventured into worldly professions, and the daily alchemy of rolling the dough—once a sacred art guarded within hearths and family secrets—began to find a new sanctuary in neighborhood workshops.
It is a narrative of intimacy, of hands, and of the hearth. Around Rina grew an enterprise both familial and artisanal, shaped by the work wooden board, flour, the rolling pin, and faithful continuity. Later, Lorenzo Scandellari, her grandson, would enter the workshop, destined to inherit not merely a trade, but a philosophy of pasta as a daily, poetic presence.
In Bologna, Lorenzo crossed paths with Catherine Vancaenegem, a young Belgian university student. What blossomed as a personal bond would evolve over the years into a profound professional partnership: Catherine infused Sfoglia Rina with an external perspective, forged far from Bolognese tradition, yet uniquely capable of interpreting its contemporary potential.
In the early years of the new millennium, the workshop began to reveal its fragility: its venerable clientele was aging, the neighborhood offered little renewal, and the danger loomed that this rich heritage might remain crystallized in nostalgia. Lorenzo and Catherine then began to envision an evolution: not to betray the workshop, but to bestow a future upon it.
The first crucial turning point was the relocation to the heart of Casalecchio, featuring a proper kitchen designed not only to offer fresh pasta but also to serve prepared dishes, curated with heightened culinary mindfulness. Thus, alongside the grandmother's legacy, a new reverence emerged for raw materials, the precision of recipes, and the nobility of ingredients.
This inspiration was also drawn from a convivial model Catherine had known in Northern Europe: spaces where one could purchase, but also linger, sit, and share. Why not bestow the same destiny upon pasta?
Sfoglia Rina thus transformed into something distinct from a restaurant yet more expansive than a boutique: a fresh pasta laboratory that serves its own creations. Untethered from pretense or rigid rituals, yet never losing the core of its identity. The pasta remains the soul: crafted by hand, sold at the counter, and graced upon the table.
alchemy
The enchantments of Sfoglia Rina journey along two paths: fidelity to the Bolognese grammar and a more botanical, seasonal, and contemporary sensibility.
Upon the altar of tradition, the two crown jewels are the Tortellino and the green Lasagna. The former is the quintessential creation: demanding time, manual mastery, and absolute precision, it represents a foundational pillar of daily devotion. The latter, conversely, whispers of a generous yet measured classicism, not overly "besciamellosa," true to Bolognese memory yet possessed of a more modern clarity.
Alongside these classics, Sfoglia Rina has woven over the years an ever-expanding catalog of vegetarian and vegan filled pastas. Not as a concession to fleeting vanity, but as a natural extension of Italian gastronomy, which has eternally embraced plant-based fare—rustic, essential, and often devoid of animal ingredients long before the world conceived the term "vegan."
From this philosophy arise polychromatic doughs and seasonal fillings: a dark pasta stained with vegetable charcoal cradling a filling of pappa al pomodoro, a coffee-infused dough with sunchoke and cardoon, and doughs revivified by spinach and red beetroot. Here, color is not mere ornament, but vitality itself: a means to bestow substance, character, and narrative even upon eggless pasta.
The seasonal menu evolves frequently, to truly honor the ephemerality of local harvest at its absolute zenith. It is here that the bottega of 1963 encounters the present: in safeguarding the sacred tortellino and in opening the folded dough to new possibilities, without ever losing the pristine gesture from which all life began.