Deaf-owned restaurant in Rome: OneSense by Valla
Callie Frye: Hello! I’m here with Valeria Olivotti, the owner of this restaurant named OneSense by Valla, which is her nickname. Thank you for your time!
Valeria Olivotti: Thank you for coming here!
Valeria: The restaurant opened in 2018. So it has been three years.
Callie: What is the cuisine here? Italian, American, or… French?
Valeria: The food here is Italian. The food is based on seasons. The menu depends on the seasons, such as the summer or winter. It changes depending on what food is available from the farms. The food is from Italy.
Callie: The restaurant matches up with the seasons, with whatever vegetables or meat is available. It’s so they can buy and cook the food.
Callie: Tell me about where you grew up.
Valeria: Here in central Italy, in Rome.
Callie: How did you come up with the idea to start a restaurant?
Valeria: All of my family is hearing. I’m the only deaf person. I was born hearing but when I was three, I had a fever and became deaf. My mom was taken aback and wondered how I would live my life. But my mom accepted it and supported sign language and also for me to use my voice. Later, whenever I would go out with my deaf friends to a restaurant, I saw that there were barriers between deaf customers and hearing workers. I had to interpret. My mom suggested the idea of starting a deaf-owned restaurant. I said “okay” and I am grateful to my mom for the encouragement to start the restaurant.
Callie: What challenges did you go through with running the restaurant?
Valeria: Well, in Italy, there is not much support for deaf people to start restaurants. Hearing people think that deaf people can’t do it. But we’re showing them that we can start a restaurant and have both deaf and hearing staff work together. This restaurant is run by deaf people, but the cooks are hearing. We’re showing that we can work in unity.
Callie: The wait staff are all deaf, but the cooks are hearing.
[Sponsored Video from Convo: https://www.convorelay.com/download ]
[Sponsored Video from The Learning Center: https://www.tlcdeaf.org/careers ]
Callie: I wonder about the impact of coronavirus. It has affected many restaurants, and I wonder if it has impacted this one as well?
Valeria: Yes. The first time was in March 2020. We heard about the coronavirus and I thought we had to close down for about two weeks, not too bad. But it ended up being three months. In June 2020, we were allowed to reopen. We wore masks and made sure to socially distance ourselves. But in August, there was another wave of Covid-19 cases, so we had to close again. I thought it would take a few months, but it was seven months.
Callie: Wow.
Valeria: It was exhausting, but I worked from home on developing a new menu and on our staff. We’ve had positive changes. Just yesterday we opened for the first time in seven months.
Callie: I’m so glad that I came here on her second day! Nice.
Valeria: I’m glad you came all the way here from America!
Callie: I’ve eaten here and I’m so impressed. The food is really delicious. I strongly encourage you to come here and try out her restaurant!
Valeria: Thank you. Come here! Thank you.