Through the floor-to-ceiling window near the north entrance of Bar Corallini, people passing by can stop and watch the head chef, Giovanni Novella, hand make his own pastas and pizza doughs.
Prepping rigatoni, spaghetti or his personal favorite, pappardelle, Novella perfectly shapes each piece of pasta, all while making it look mesmerizingly easy. Anyone watching from outside can feel the ambiance of the low-lit, cozy restaurant and practically taste the neapolitan pizzas as they come out of the wood-fired oven.
More often than not, observers succumb to the urge to stop in and enjoy a spritz and a bowl of delightful al dente pasta.
There’s no wonder why he was voted Best of Madison’s Best Chef in both 2023 and 2024; Novella makes his own limoncello, imports his ingredients from Italy and serves Aperol spritzes on tap.
Combining traditional Italian recipes with American flair, Novella’s success in Madison has drawn in hundreds of loyal customers — and more than 8,000 Instagram followers — for his culinary journey. Bar Corallini has quickly become one of the most popular restaurants in the Madison area, with reservations fully booked every weekend.
Novella takes inspiration from his Italian heritage to create dishes that showcase his love of Italian food. Born in a small fishing town in the Campania region of Southern Italy, Novella chooses authentic ingredients and uses old family recipes to maintain a strong connection with his roots.
“My mom is a huge influence on my culinary journey. My grandma too,” Novella said. “I grew up cooking with them.”
The backstory of Novella, however, is good enough to rival his homemade spaghetti bolognese – growing up in Italy and learning to cook across Europe, Novella emigrated to California 14 years ago, at age 24, with little clue he’d ever end up in Madison.
Now, as an award-winning chef and restaurant owner, Novella looks back at his career with appreciation.
“Growing up, I worked in so many restaurants on the coast — Northern Italy, Southern Italy. I even worked on a cruise ship, and I worked in Germany.” Novella said. “I learned from so many talented chefs.”
In 2010, a friend of Novella’s in San Diego called to say he was opening an Italian restaurant and needed a chef. Novella hardly hesitated.
“The only question I asked was if the staff spoke Italian,” Novella said with a chuckle. “He told me they spoke Spanish. I said, ‘Yeah, I can make that work.’”
Knowing no Spanish — or English, for that matter — Novella boarded his flight to California.
Working at the restaurant in San Diego for five years, he learned to adapt his traditional Italian recipes to fit an American crowd. He began speaking both English and Spanish and met a woman, a Madison native, who he ultimately married. Once they were expecting their first child, the couple decided to move to Madison to raise their kids near her family.
After he’d worked at other Madison restaurants for a few years, Novella’s dream of opening a restaurant of his own finally became possible in 2019 when he bought the empty space between Winnebago and Atwood Avenues. What followed was weeks of menu planning with much needed input from Novella’s mom, who greatly influenced the dishes he developed.
“You will never see fettuccine Alfredo or spaghetti and meatballs on my menu,” Novella said. “I will never do that old school American Italian stuff. I take a dish and put it on my menu in a way that I am proud of.”
Novella directly imports 60% of the ingredients used at Bar Corallini from Italy. Despite the high costs of importing ingredients, Bar Corallini’s chef makes up for it by making all of his own pasta in house.
“In Italy, everything is good. The best tomatoes, the best flour, the pasta, the best of everything. I will get specific ingredients from my hometown in Italy and ship them here — all the flour, all the prosciuttos, the salamis, capricciosa, guanciale.”
If he cannot get something from Italy, he’ll source it from a small, organic producer near Madison.
“When visiting Madison, Bar Corallini is a must,” said Trevor Windel, a 52-year-old teacher from Minnesota. “The atmosphere gives a home away from home feel, and you are guaranteed fine cuisine!”
As if his popular entree and dessert menus weren’t enough, Novella also makes and sells homemade limoncello. He uses his grandma’s secret recipe and flies the lemons in from Sorrento.
“The first time [my mom] came to eat here, she approved.” Novella said. “She loved the food she ate here.”
Bar Corallini stands out as one of the highest quality Italian spots in the Madison area — in all of Wisconsin, for that matter. Novella’s authenticity to his European roots has brought an appreciation for good Italian food to Dane County. The quality service from both chefs and servers alike – who Novella is quick to credit for their hard work and energy — has also made it a restaurant customers want to come back to.
“The food is delicious and feels very authentic. The best pasta I’ve ever had!” said Morgan Kamholz, a 24-year-old UW–Madison graduate. “I brought my little sister and our parents here and they all loved it too.”
And it seems that Novella is just as fond of Madison as Madison is of him.
“I’ve been on the coast, I’ve traveled the world and I’ve figured that this is the place to be.” Novella said. “I love this city.”
