engelberg_magazin_nummer17_winter

Seit vergangenem Sommer führt die Familie Amplo zusätzlich die Bierlialp. The Amplo family has also been running the Bier- lialp since last summer.

Die Familie Amplo (v.l.): Sohn Raffaele mit den Eltern Rossella und Giuseppe. The Amplo family (left to right): son Raffaele with par- ents Rossella and Giuseppe.

Giuseppe Amplo ist auch Weinhändler und bietet in der Enoteca im Al Monaste- ro ausgewählte Weine an. Giuseppe Amplo is also a wine merchant, and a hand-picked selection of wines is served in Al Monstero’s enoteca.

Giuseppe Amplo and his family are well known for their warm hospitality at Engelberg’s Al Monastero restaurant. Since last summer, the Italian family has also been running the Bierlialp pizzeria and steakhouse. They didn’t go looking for this new venture, but the pull to take on a new challenge was just too strong. The Amplo family relocated to Engelberg in 2005 and have since earned a reputation as welcoming hosts. Af ter hav ing worked at the Europäischer Hof, Giuseppe Amplo went on to manage Hotel Miramonti, formerly Hotel Maro, with his wife Rossella. But when problems arose instead. They opened the renamed A l Monas- tero restaurant in November 2011. The Ita lian word “Monastero” in the restaurant ’s name is an homage to the nearby Abbey and a symbol of the family’s respec t for tradition. Af ter a ll, Gasthaus Engel is the oldest tavern in Engel- berg; it was opened by Abbey monks in 1778. The couple a lso embraced tradition when they took over the Bierlia lp. Their pre- decessors had renamed the restaurant “Au- bergine”, but “Bierlia lp” had been a household name throughout the region and beyond for many years before that. “We readopted the name ‘Bierlia lp’ because it is traditiona l and brought the restaurant plenty of success in years gone by,” explains the new leaseholder. The menu will a lso remain unchanged – af ter a ll, it makes sense for Ita lians to ser ve pizza. But un like A l Monastero, which is an Ita lian restaurant through and through, the Bier- lia lp is a lso a steakhouse. “We want to of fer Mediterranean and internationa l cuisine, during renovation work and, coincidenta lly, the former Gasthaus Engel was put up for lease, the couple jumped at the chance to take that over

too,” says Giuseppe. Both the Bierlia lp and A l Monastero have a f ine selec tion of wines hand-picked by Giuseppe himself. “Good food and good wine belong together,” he says. When, in 2013, Giuseppe and Rossella eventua lly bought A l Monastero af ter hav- ing leased it for some time and, in spring 2015, acquired the lease for the Bierlia lp restaurant, they didn’ t immediately feel up to tack ling the new venture. That ’s because, with its large sun terrace, pizza deliver y ser v ice and enoteca, A l Monastero essentia lly gives them

enough work to be get ting on with. “But we’re a lways seeking out new cha l- lenges,” they say. The couple have a rea l presence in both establishments; Giuseppe believes that the owners

“Good food and good wine belong together.”

shou ld be the face of a restaurant. Their son Raf faele of ten lends a helping hand, too. “I help wherever I can, whenever they need me,” says the 19-year-old business school student. Raf faele says he can imagine work- ing f u ll time in the family business at some point in the f uture. Or, as he puts it, “My path will probably lead me there.” Af ter a ll, he has inherited his parents’ hospitable nature. The entire family feels at home in Engelberg. “The loca ls have adopted us even though we’re not f rom around here,” says Giuseppe. “We have so many good contac ts. Because Engelberg is such an open place, with so many v isitors f rom Switzerland and abroad, we f it in ver y well with our Ita lian menta l- ity.” That ’s not surprising, given that any- one who comes a long and of fers such warm hospita lity and f ine Ita lian food and drink is a lways going to be welcomed with open arms.

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gastronomie | food+drink

gastronomie | food+drink