Bella Vespa: the celebration as we dream it, relaxed and full of dough
Eleni Psychouli heads down to the Athens Riviera for NouPou and writes about Bella Vespa: every day of celebration finds its – Italian – reason in beautiful Vespa. Pizza and meatballs, ossobuco and tiramisu, words that on their own work like a magic wand to awaken the party inside you.
- 30/12/2025 12:12
A rainy night, the fairytale courtyard of Bella Vespa has turned down its lights and its adrenaline, yet behind it you can always read the promise of a new “same time next year” fiesta, with cocktails, music, and rising temperatures. The few steps do not give you time to sink into winter melancholy, since behind the lavishly decorated tree that shines like a golden sun in the night, warmth awaits you just as you have envied it in Christmas family films, in dreamy, cozy homes.
“Dream Again,” urges the mural opposite, and it doesn’t take much to slip into the Christmas dream. With warm Persian rugs, twinkling lights all around, packages with impressive bows on the shelves, the red of the tables, the view of the courtyard greenery through the glass panes, Bella Vespa abolishes the idea of public space and focuses you directly on the atmosphere of a warm home.
On the fringes of Glyfada’s buzz and in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods of the Southern Suburbs of Athens, this Italian lady of Glyfada is unlike any other Italian restaurant in the area. Its setting does not reproduce the clichés of a trattoria; nothing here reminds you of a pizzeria or of Italy in folkloric imitation. Families and food lovers of the area know it and love it as the restaurant that brings the whole family and all ages together in a shared love for the thin, crispy yet fluffy dough of an authentic Roman pizza, made with sourdough. Margherita, with prosciutto and organic arugula, with gorgonzola, parmesan and garlicky mayonnaise, or spicy—it doesn’t really matter. Whichever you choose, you are guaranteed the shortest, effort-free trip to Rome.
Nothing on the menu will tell you, no one will reveal it to you, yet in this Italian corner there is a wondrous backstage in the kitchen, something that explains how the dream of six friends who envisioned this place ten years ago, sitting on a beach, managed to stand the test of time. In the kitchen cook Thanos Feskos, an international Greek chef with two Michelin stars and one Green Star, and Dimitris Chatzidimitriou. Dimitris was initiated into the secrets of Italian flavor from childhood, traveling with his family, even before learning it in practice. Speaking with him, you realize how deeply he knows the secrets and local tastes of the beloved neighboring country, and how intelligently he knows how to ground its flavors in Greek reality without stealing their authenticity. Dimitris, besides being a tireless cook, is also a farmer. From his farm in Markopoulo, he supplies Vespa with fresh, pure vegetables. When it is not tomato season, from farm to table gives way to the San Marzano tomato, the only one trusted by every Italian cook who respects their craft, for a tomato sauce.
The celebration here begins with a unique focaccia, with the most ethereal dough, the savoriness of sourdough, coarse salt on the crust, the perfect accompaniment to a salad with sweet organic cherry tomatoes, buttery burrata, pickle, and the flavor of the small garden artichoke, which is not sour, does not release excess salt, only the incredible taste of a truly fresh artichoke. The handmade ravioli are dressed in a rich, creamy mushroom ragù sauce with truffle oil and fresh truffle, a dish with the deep, earthy flavor of the winter forest, perfectly cooked pasta with refined dough, a dish that on its own sums up Christmas.
Southern Italians adore arancini and eat them at any time of day. Perfectly crunchy balls that hide inside them the gentle texture of risotto, and which I believe Greeks, who so love meatballs, have not given the attention they deserve. These arancini here, with cream from fresh cow’s milk stracchino cheese and lime zest, are a first-rate opportunity to appreciate them differently. If for your Christmas réveillon it suits you to choose one dish, this is the different ossobuco, on mashed potatoes. Tender meat, with an intense wine-based marinade that gives it a gamey flavor, plenty of marrow, freshness from gremolata with the aroma of fresh parsley.
If, on the other hand, you are looking for the dish that smells more than anything else of “family,” you will certainly choose the polpette, or in other words, braised meatballs on tagliatelle with rich tomato sauce.
Everyone makes tiramisu, and very many mistreat it. I have tasted countless versions in my career; rarely have I tried one so wonderful, so truly Italian, generous and refined at the same time, with the absolute, cloud-like, creamy cheese filling. Sometimes food, when it touches the soul, goes straight to the center of love, finds memories and brings groups together. Food of the soul and of sharing, which meets effortlessly, relaxed and without formality, the spirit of Christmas.
