About Sabys
Italian vineyard
Sabys is about our passion for Italy, Italian food, and the Italian way of life. Whether it’s a quick hello with friends over a caffe espresso and cornetto, a ride on a moto through the streets of Rome, or a family dinner on Sunday of spaghetti carbonara and bistecca alla griglia; Italians live life with passion, taste, and style.
Food is always a big part of that passion. Italy’s cusine offers the world wonderful pastas and risottos; appetizers of prosciutto, salami, and grilled vegetables; cheeses of all types; a pure and simple approach to seafood and meats; wonderful desserts and chocolates; and of course coffees, wines, and liqueurs. Italy has 22 different regions, each with their own culture, cuisine, and traditions, and Italian words such as “parmigiano” have become part of the world’s everyday lexicon.
Although we in Italy eat often and eat well, our population as a whole is healthy and not overweight. Doctors have studied the “Mediterranean diet” that typifies Italian cuisine – pure olive oil, local ingredients, rich in vegetables -- and have documented numerous benefits.
This is not surprising to us in Italy, our culture and cusine has evolved over centuries and, just as a sauce that has simmered a long time becomes richer and more nuanced, the passage of time has tuned our dishes and ingredients in a sort of culinary evolution. Italy is the progenitor of the slow food movement now gaining in strength and popularity in the world, a natural reaction to the over-processed, preservative-laden factory foods on many supermarket shelves.
My father’s family goes back generations in Rome, and as small children my sister and I would climb on the lions in Piazza del Popolo and play in the squares and streets of la citta' eterna. When we were hungry we were never more than a block or two from a wonderful snack of pizza Bianca, gelato al limone, or chestnuts roasted on the street. We grew up eating dishes like bucatini amatriciana, spaghetti con vongole, andvitello al tonno. When we got older our grandmother would show us her recipes and my father would take us to the country to meet with the artiginal suppliers of oil, wine, pasta, cheeses, honey, vinegar and other finely crafted gourmet items; suppliers that over time became friends cemented by the bond of a shared passion for food.
Today my family has several businesses in Rome – Sabys Ristorante in Campo dei Fiori, Pepy’s Bar in Piazza Barbarini, Saby’s Bean gourmet food store, and Sabys takeout express. We have searched out the best suppliers for our enterprises, the best gourmet foods – always from small local producers that still keep to the old ways and traditions.
Sabys is named for my sister, Sabina Manci. The Sabine hills are some of the oldest inhabited areas on the Italian peninsula, and the Sabine people were some of the earliest Romans. We drew from this inspiration for the name when creating our businesses in Rome, and we are delighted to open sabys.com for you and we hope that you enjoy spending some time at our store.
We also want to say that we are most grateful to our family friend of many years Steve Smith for joining us as co-owner of sabys.com and bringing his expertise to help us create our online business.
We hope if you come to Rome you will come say hello to us at one of our establishments, it would be a gran piacere to welcome you to the eternal city. And of course we hope that you might consider buying something wonderful for you and your family in our online store, but even more we hope you make room for the passion and taste of Italy in your life and live as Italians do: “live well, love much, laugh often”
Tante belle cose -- "May you have many beautiful things",
Manuel Manci
