From Palermo to Milan, Borgia Group grows again: Osteria Formentini opens
Eleven venues between Lombardy and Sicily, 215 employees and a turnover of almost 12 million euro. The group founded by brothers Vittorio and Saverio Borgia opens a contemporary osteria in the heart of Brera that focuses on memory, conviviality and essential cuisine
by Nino Amadore
Key points
The Palermo-based Borgia group continues to grow in the catering sector between Palermo and Milan. Founded by brothers Vittorio and Saverio Borgia, in fourteen years it has built up a network of eleven establishments with around 215 employees and a turnover of almost 12 million euro. The latest opening is Osteria Formentini, inaugurated in March 2026 in Milan's Brera district: a contemporary osteria designed by chef Federico Della Vecchia, conceived as a place for everyday conviviality rather than a trendy restaurant.
A contemporary osteria in the heart of Brera
The restaurant is located on the corner of Via Madonnina and Via Formentini, in the heart of one of the city's busiest and most recognisable neighbourhoods. Here the group has chosen to build a project that tries to reinterpret the most authentic soul of the Italian osteria in a contemporary key: not a restaurant designed to follow contemporary gastronomic fashions, but a space rooted in the neighbourhood and open as much to those who live Brera every day as to those who discover it while strolling through its streets. The new restaurant has about 100 seats and 15 employees and represents a further step in the development of the group, which over the years has built up an articulated presence between Lombardy and Sicily. The architectural project bears the signature of architect Giovanni Musica, founder of the Milan-based MGAlab studio.
"In a neighbourhood full of restaurants that tell the story of tradition," explains Vittorio Borgia, CEO of Borgia Group, "Osteria Formentini is one of the few places that makes you really relive it. Through smells, ambience and recipes that speak to the memory before they speak to taste. An experience that unites generations at the same table'.
Locations between Milan and Palermo
The entrepreneurial project of the Borgia brothers stems from a precise philosophy: informal catering but with high quality raw materials, well-kept environments and a location in the city centre. A format experimented since the opening of the first Bioesserì, inaugurated in Milan in 2012 and then replicated in various variations in the group's other premises. Today, Bioesserì is present in Milan and Palermo and represents one of the group's most recognisable formats, with a proposal that combines Mediterranean cuisine, pizza with long-rising dough and an offer designed to accompany different moments of the day: from breakfast to business lunch to aperitifs and dinner.
Over time, the group has expanded its reach with different concepts but linked by the same philosophy. In Milan, in addition to Bioesserì and the new Osteria Formentini, the group manages Casa Bi, which will open in 2023 in the CityLife district, Trattoria Donna Concetta, dedicated to the Neapolitan tradition, and Baunilla pastry shop, a creative workshop inspired by the Sicilian confectionary tradition.
