Sicilian Lessons at Bedda Mia on State Street

Alberto Morello never shied from proclaiming that his lifelong goal was to open a Sicilian restaurant in honor of his upbringing on that Italian isle. But who knew this pensively jovial chef behind the Olio e Limone family of downtown Santa Barbara eateries wanted to be a professor of history, art, and culture as well? 

In just my first few minutes of visiting Bedda Mia, the State Street restaurant that Alberto and his wife/business partner, Elaine Morello, opened two months ago, I learned that coral is Sicily’s home color, as reflected in the gold-red walls; that the folk-art-decorated Sicilian horse-drawn carts were “the Teslas of their time,” and that their colors and iconography turned into a fashion line by Dolce & Gabbana last year, as witnessed in the surrounding photographs; that puppet theaters were common to Sicilian street corners, as seen in the back of the dining room, near the fake hearth that symbolizes typical kitchens of yesteryear; and that Sicilian oregano inspires nostalgic reverie in natives like Alberto, who proclaimed, “Sicily is right here” while waving a branch in my face.

Much of this inspired nodding from my dining partner and longtime friend, Giuseppe Bonfiglio, whose parents emigrated from Sicily before he was born and then ran Italian restaurants in Santa Clarita for decades. But even he was getting eye-opening lessons from Alberto, like how those ceramic Moorish heads found throughout the island relate to the legend of a love-scorned woman who beheaded an invader and turned his noggin into a planter. Of all the art and photography he commissioned for the restaurant, Alberto is most proud of his own elaborate Moorish head vase, which he placed looking into the restaurant next to the entrance. Sporting an elegant female face, the prominent piece echoes the “my beautiful” translation of the Sicilian phrase “Bedda Mia.”