06/14/2026
Meet Zia Rosa.🍷
Officially… she's the Marketing & PR Director for Bertolone's.
Unofficially… she runs a sophisticated influence operation out of an Italian restaurant in Alabama.
Her responsibilities include convincing complete strangers they are emotionally attached to lasagna, creating semi-fictional Italian relatives for social media, and planting an alarming number of herbs and flowers in front of the restaurant.
She has also been known to recruit unsuspecting customers into TikToks, talk waitstaff into participating in questionable marketing ideas, and launch highly effective campaigns involving nostalgia, cannoli, and garlic bread.
Most nights, she can be found in a corner booth with a glass of red wine, editing a TikTok and laughing to herself at her latest creation while Dean Martin plays softly somewhere in the background.
She's Carmine's older sister and the Sauce Boss's cousin, which explains why neither of them are surprised by anything anymore.
If you ask Zia Rosa a question, be prepared for the answer. She notices everything. The new haircut. The awkward first date at table twelve. The lady leaving the restaurant with the little red votive she placed on the table earlier that morning.
Yeah. She saw that.
She wears black almost exclusively. Not because she's mourning, but because it's elegant, practical, and pairs beautifully with red wine.
If you've spent any time around Bertolone's, you've probably seen her wandering around outside with a glass of vino in one hand and a shovel in the other, planting flowers she absolutely did not ask permission to plant. The flowers out front are her fault. The herbs are her fault. The grapevine that was supposed to be decorative and has since tripled in size is definitely her fault.
The truth is, for all the opinions, sarcasm, and eye rolls, Zia Rosa has a habit of collecting things. Plants. Stray cats. Employees having a rough week. Customers who just needed someone to listen for five minutes.
The best way to describe her...A little espresso. A little wine. A lot of opinions. An alarming number of plants. And a heart much bigger than she'd ever admit.
Con affetto, buon vino e leggero giudizio. 😘🇮🇹🍷
www.tiktok.com/.italian
