MEET
Catherine De Orio
FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR
OF CASA DE ORIO
My love affair with Italy began long before I ever set foot on its soil.
I grew up immersed in the rhythms of an Italian-American family. Sunday suppers were spent at my Nana Kay’s creating chaos with my cousins while we waited for the simmering gravy (sauce to non-Italians) to be served over homemade pasta. An endless stream of holidays took us out of our daily routines to gather the family around a table woven with culinary tradition — from Feast of the Seven Fishes (a challenge for this seafood adverse adolescent), St. Joseph’s Day zeppole, to fried dough kissed with sugar to celebrate the Immaculate Conception and kick off winter festivities. The seasons of my early life were marked by these rituals of connection, conversation and culinary that bound together my family’s shared history.
But it wasn’t until my first visit to Rome that I experienced a deeper shift — something essential and profound settled within me. I felt a warm, ancestral embrace, as if Italy itself was welcoming me home and I became engulfed by its ethos. Slow living served as the counterbalance to my formerly frenetic pace and the immediacy of modern culture.
I allowed life to unfold with intention, care and artistry, and in turn, Italy unlocked infinite avenues to feed my hunger to explore, create and understand the world around me.
Marked by this deeply-rooted desire for discovery, I’ve lived in four countries (plus Sicily, so distinct it deserves its own mention, as any Sicilian will agree) and numerous cities.
My professional path led me down courthouse corridors as a litigator, through the hallowed hallways of the National Gallery of Art and Peggy Guggenheim Collection, into the kitchens of acclaimed chefs, through culinary and interior design training, nonprofit leadership and the world of television. Each of these chapters, though diverse, are bound by a single thread: an insatiable curiosity and relentless pursuit of passion, beauty and the richness of human culture. And now my next chapter begins, firmly rooted in the Italian approach to living.
Pleasure, in Italy, is embedded within the everyday.
And nowhere is this more on display than in la piazza, or the town square. It is the soul of the community where the pulse of the people can be felt, as the trials, triumphs and trivialities of daily life unfold. More than a place, it is a way of being where conversation is the currency and community takes precedence over modern life’s rush.
Moments are shared, ideas exchanged and a sense of belonging flourishes — it’s at once deeply personal and profoundly communal. Here we see and are seen.
While living in Venice, Campo Santa Margherita became my neighborhood piazza — where I could always find a spritz, a smile or someone to remove a scorpion from my apartment (yes, really!).
The spirit of la piazza — a space to learn, share and connect — inspired the creation of Casa De Orio. A culmination of my personal, professional and philosophical journey — it’s a gathering space for those who, like me, seek out and wish to indulge in life’s joys, be they simple or spectacular. Here I will share my discoveries and in turn, learn about yours. I want to inspire dialogue, spark curiosity and enhance the pleasure of discovery. Through Casa De Orio, I encourage you to experience the elegance of slow living, to embrace creativity, and to savor life’s pleasures.
Life, like la piazza,
is best experienced in full.
I invite you to make Casa De Orio your own personal piazza, where we can pursue, practice, and perfect the imperfect art of living well, together.
THE SWEET LIFE
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