Who’s behind it Lina’s Italian Market culinary director Giuseppe Di Gennaro
What’s on the menu Italian cicchetti cuisine or small plates
When it opened June 2025
The elegant restaurant space inside Lina’s Italian Piazza (a.k.a., the one in Inglewood) has been largely underutilized, even after a dramatic renovation a couple of years back. The leader of Lina’s culinary programming, Giuseppe Di Gennaro — who Calgarians may remember as the chef behind restaurants like Capo and Borgo — knew he wanted to do something different than the typical Italian pasta restaurants around town and landed on the idea of cicchetti, popular in Italy among Venetian wine bars.
“We have to stay within certain boundaries but, at the same time, we’re detaching from the stereotypical Italian restaurant,” says Di Gennaro.
The result is a shareable menu of Italian snacks including plenty of cheese, meat and bread imported from Italy, which L’Olivo has easy access to through its connection to Lina’s. Di Gennaro and his team also developed a series of richly flavoured pastas and protein dishes, all served in smaller portion sizes to keep with the small plates theme.
While you should be wary of over-ordering — the bill can add up quickly with all of those tempting small plates — the format allows guests to build themselves a full dinner or a series of snacks to enjoy with one of L’Olivo’s excellent cocktails.
Inside Lina’s Italian Piazza, 1023 9 Ave. S.E., 403-960-1006, lolivo.ca, @lolivocalgary
