By james art Through the floor-to-ceiling window near the north entrance of Bar Coralinipassers-by can stop and watch chef Giovanni Novella hand-make his own pasta and pizza dough.
Cooking rigatoni, spaghetti or his personal favourite, pappardelle, Novella perfectly shapes each piece of pasta while making it look mesmerizingly easy. Anyone looking in from the outside can feel the ambiance of the dimly lit, cozy restaurant and practically taste the Neapolitan pizzas coming out of the wood-fired oven.
More often than not, onlookers succumb to the urge to stop and enjoy a spritz and bowl of delectable al dente pasta.
It’s no wonder why he was voted Best of Madison’s Best Chef in both 2023 and 2024; Novella makes its own limoncello, imports its ingredients from Italy and serves Aperol on tap.
Combining traditional Italian recipes with American flair, Novella’s success in Madison has drawn hundreds of loyal customers—and more than 8,000 Instagram followers—along his culinary journey. Bar Corallini has quickly become one of the most popular restaurants in the Madison area, with reservations being 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 to its roots.
“My mother has been a huge influence on my culinary journey. My grandmother too,” said Novella. “I grew up cooking with them.”
However, Novella’s background is good enough to rival his homemade spaghetti bolognese—raised in Italy and learning to cook in Europe, Novella immigrated to California 14 years ago, at age 24, with no idea he’d ever end up in Madison.
Now an award-winning chef and restaurant owner, Novella looks back on her career with appreciation.
“Growing up, I worked in so many restaurants along the coast – northern Italy, southern Italy. I even worked on a cruise ship and 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 smile. “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 San Diego restaurant for five years, he learned to adapt his traditional Italian recipes to suit an American crowd. He began to speak both English and Spanish and met a Madison native whom he eventually married. After expecting their first child, the couple decided to move to Madison to raise their children near her family.
After working at other restaurants in Madison for several years, Novella’s dream of opening his own restaurant finally became possible in 2019 when he bought the vacant space between Winnebago and Atwood Avenues. What followed were weeks of menu planning with much needed input from Novella’s mother, who greatly influenced the dishes he developed.
“You’ll never see fettuccine Alfredo or spaghetti and meatballs on my menu,” Novella said. “I’ll never do that old American Italian thing. I take a dish and put it on my menu in a way that I’m proud of.”
Novella directly imports 60% of the ingredients used in Bar Corallini from Italy. Despite the high cost of importing ingredients, Bar Corallini’s chef makes up for it by making all his own pasta in house.
“Everything is fine in Italy. The best tomatoes, the best flour, the pasta, the best of everything. I will get specific ingredients from my hometown in Italy and send them here – all the flour, all the prosciutto, salami, capricciosa, guanciale.
If he can’t get something from Italy, he’ll get it from a small organic grower near Madison.
“When visiting Madison, Bar Coralini is a must,” said Trevor Windell, a 52-year-old teacher from Minnesota. “The atmosphere creates a homey feeling and you are guaranteed fine cuisine!”
As if its popular appetizer and dessert menus weren’t enough, Novella also makes and sells homemade limoncello. He uses his grandmother’s secret recipe and has the lemons flown 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 top quality Italian spots in the Madison area—in all of Wisconsin, for that matter. Novella’s authenticity to its European roots has brought an appreciation for fine Italian food to Dane County. Quality service from both chefs and servers—who Novella is quick to credit for their hard work and energy—has also made it a restaurant customers want to return to.
“The food is delicious and feels very authentic. The best pasta I’ve ever eaten!” said Morgan Kamholtz, a 24-year-old UW–Madison graduate. “I brought my little sister and our parents here and they all loved it too.”
And it looks like Novella likes Madison just as much as Madison likes him.
“I’ve been ashore, I’ve been around the world, and I decided this is where I need to be,” Novella said. “I love this city.”
