Pizzeria Da Ezio

A Piazza, a Dough, and Forty-Seven Years of Mountain Sourcing

Piazza Licini sits at the centre of Alano di Piave, a small comune in the Belluno province where the Dolomite foothills begin their descent toward the Venetian plain. The square has the compressed, unhurried quality of market towns that have never needed to market themselves. Arriving here for pizza rather than for the scenery requires a degree of deliberate intent, Alano di Piave is not on the way to anywhere obvious, and Pizzeria Da Ezio, which has occupied its corner of that piazza since 1977, draws visitors who come specifically for what it does. That specificity is, in many ways, the editorial point.

The Italian pizza tradition has fractured across a dozen recognised styles in the past two decades. Neapolitan remains the dominant reference, but the northern mountain variant, lighter, crisper, shaped by altitude and local grain logic, operates as a distinct category with its own internal hierarchy. Pizzeria Da Ezio's Impasto Crunch sits in this space: a dough built for texture over char, designed to carry the weight of Belluno-region produce without collapsing under it.

Where the Ingredients Come From, and Why the Geography Matters

The sourcing logic at Pizzeria Da Ezio is a defining part of the restaurant's identity. It is a constraint that preceded the brand: the Belluno mountains offer a specific palette of seasonal ingredients, and the kitchen works within it. Altitude and Alpine weather patterns govern what grows, when it matures, and how long it lasts. Mountain meadow herbs, local dairy, seasonal vegetables from the Val Belluna, these are not interchangeable with lower-altitude equivalents, and the kitchen treats them accordingly.

This approach places the pizzeria in a growing cohort of Italian producers, across pizza, bread, and regional cuisine more broadly, who argue that ingredient provenance should determine menu shape rather than the other way around. The approach Denis Lovatel has developed over the years formalises what was already a practical reality for a kitchen embedded in a mountain community: you cook what the region grows, you honour what the season permits, and you build a technique that flatters both. The Impasto Crunch is, in part, a dough adapted for toppings that carry strong, concentrated flavours from short growing seasons at elevation.

Regional sourcing also shapes other Italian kitchens, including Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico has made Alpine sourcing central to a three-Michelin-star programme, and Piazza Duomo in Alba has built its identity around Piedmontese ingredients at the highest price tier. The restaurant operates at a fundamentally different price and format register, but the underlying logic, that geography should govern the plate, connects it to a broader movement in how Italian restaurants think about their raw materials. For a wider view of how that movement spans different formats and regions, the Osteria Francescana in Modena, Dal Pescatore in Runate, and Le Calandre in Rubano each represent different inflections of regional Italian identity expressed through sourcing and technique.

The Lovatel Continuity

Family-run restaurants in Italy that survive across generations tend to do so through one of two mechanisms: they freeze their identity and trade on nostalgia, or they adapt the founding logic to a new generation's technical vocabulary while keeping the original sourcing relationships intact. Ezio Lovatel founded the pizzeria in 1977; Denis Lovatel now leads it. The Impasto Crunch and the sustainable-pizza philosophy represent the second mechanism: a formal articulation of what the kitchen was already doing, expressed in a language that registers with a contemporary audience without abandoning the original geography. This is not a reinvention, it is a translation. The family tradition continues to inform the format; the current leadership has given it sharper edges.

The pizzeria's reputation extends well beyond Alano di Piave itself. For visitors planning around the Dolomite region, Alano di Piave sits within reasonable distance of Belluno and the eastern Dolomite access routes.

Planning a Visit

The restaurant is recommended for reservations, serves casual dining, and sits at a price tier of about $20 per person. The regular hours are Tuesday through Friday from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. and Sunday from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m.; Monday is closed. The address is Piazza Licini 2, 32031 Alano di Piave BL.

Italy's wider restaurant scene, from Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence to Enrico Bartolini in Milan, Uliassi in Senigallia, Quattro Passi in Marina del Cantone, Reale in Castel di Sangro, and Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli in Verona, provides useful peer-set context for where serious Italian dining sits across format and price tier.