Taste of Italy to come to Peppard

THE Ruchetta restaurant in Peppard is to have a new owner and name.

Montorro Reno, who has 40 years’ experience in the catering industry, is buying the business from Angelo Colao.

He will rename it Ristorante Reno’s and serve traditional Italian food.

Mr Reno, 56, lives in Surrey but plans to move to this area. He said: “I was searching for a business to buy and when the Ruchetta came up I just loved the building and the area.

“I came to look around and loved the place at first sight. Everyone I asked, even in Surrey, said, ‘wow, you are going to live in Henley, that’s a beautiful place and very prosperous’. I never heard a bad thing about it.”

Mr Reno, who moved from Italy to England when he was 16, owned a restaurant in his home country for more than 25 years before selling it recently.

He is refurbishing the Ruchetta, where he will be head chef, and he plans to smoke meats and grow his own vegetables.

He said: “I want to do real authentic Italian food. I’ve looked around and no one else seems to do it. In the summer we’re going to have a barbecue every Sunday.”

Mr Colao also owns a Ruchetta in Wokingham.