How I Got Here

“When I first came to Groto, I was a customer. Then I became a chef, a restaurateur, a local. Now I want to be your guide.” — Judy Harman

Chef Judy Harman in Northern Italy

From Corporate Sydney to Valpolicella

The first time I ate at Groto de Corgnan in 1999, I didn’t speak Italian. I didn’t know what Valpolicella was, not really. I just knew that the food was unlike anything I’d eaten before, and that the man cooking it – Giorgio Soave – put something into every plate that I didn’t have a word for at the time.

For sixteen years, it was the place I came back to when I wanted to remember what food was supposed to feel like. In 2015, while celebrating my husband’s 50th birthday at that same table, Giorgio told me he was retiring and closing the restaurant. I heard myself say: “I’ll come. I’ll help you keep it open. Just teach me everything.”

Learning to Cook, Learning to Be a Local

I moved to Valpolicella. Giorgio taught me his recipes, his techniques, and his suppliers – the farmers, cheesemakers, and winemakers in the hills around Sant’Ambrogio who had been part of his kitchen for thirty years. In 2017, I bought Groto de Corgnan.

A few years later I opened my second restaurant: Vista Lago Loncrino, perched above Torri del Benaco on Lake Garda. Running two restaurants means accumulating a decade of deep, direct relationships with the producers, winemakers, and local guides who make this region extraordinary.

My story has been covered by Financial Review in The Australian and in Theo Randall’s column in The Sunday Times.

In 2022, I represented Groto de Corgnan in Sky TV’s ‘4 Ristoranti with Alessandro Borghese’. Click on the logos to read more…

The Australian Financial Review The Sunday Times
Sky 4 Ristoranti with Alessandro Borghese
Judy preparing local Italian ingredients

“When I first came to Groto, I was a customer. Then I became a chef, a restaurateur, a local. Now I want to be your guide – and show you the Italy I know.”

— Judy Harman
Authentic Veronese dish at Groto de Corgnan

Why Small-Group Tours, and Why Now

Embrace Italy is deliberately small. What I offer is something closer to coming with me on my rounds – visiting the producers I actually buy from, eating in the restaurants I actually love, and cooking in my actual kitchens. Strictly limited to a maximum of 8 guests at a time.

“Groto de Corgnan is not just a restaurant. It’s a small piece of a much larger ecosystem – local winemakers, olive oil producers, cheesemakers, charcuterie producers. That thread – from the table back to the land – is at the heart of everything we do.”

Join Judy in Northern Italy

Discover private access, authentic connection, and food that will ruin restaurant meals back home.

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