The Edinburgh family deli that is still Scotland's best after 90 years in business

This Elm Row institution, which opened in 1934, is owned by the Contini family, with Mary Contini as director, her husband, Philip, as chairman, daughter Francesca Contini Mackie the CEO and second daughter, Olivia, in a supporting role.

We doubt that the original owner, Alfonso Crolla, could have foreseen that his great grand-daughter would one day be running his shop. Crolla came to Scotland from Fontitune – a hamlet in Lazio, between Rome and Naples – and a monochrome portrait of him, sporting a very distinguished moustache, oversees the cheese counter.

You may spot his descendants if you visit, as they welcome guests to the Caffe Bar & Restaurant, where they serve panetella sandwiches and bombolone doughnuts, or usher guests into the vast shop, with its carrier bags that boast the signature green logo and wooden shelves that reach to the ceiling. These are all stacked with treasures, from Sicilian orange marmalade, to taggiasche olives.

Even if you leave with nothing, a visit is a tonic. No wonder it’s survived for so long.

We ask their matriarch, Mary Contini, to tell us more. 

Now that V&C is 90, do you think it’s reached its peak?

Absolutely not! There are so many wonderful producers that we have and keep finding and we want to share their products with our customers. The list is not exhaustive, and neither are we. Each generation adds another layer of knowledge and discovery, Francesca and Olivia are generation four and there are more to follow

Are there any nonagenarian customers who remember when you opened?

 We do have nonagenarian customers who remember coming to the shop when they were young, and they tell us their stories which brings our first generation to life for us. We have a visitor’s book open in the shop for customers to write their memories. There are so many beautiful stories.

Do tastes change? What have been the bestsellers over the years?

Things may go in and out of fashion, but good taste is timeless. Ingredients such as Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto di Parma, our own extra virgin olive oil from Puglia, Caffè Bar blend coffee, gorgonzola dolce, Fiasco di Chianti, best quality tinned San Marzano tomatoes, Campofilone pasta, Taggiasca olives – these are the classic ingredients of our forebears and what we use ourselves every day.

What's particularly popular right now?

 Rigatoni with Fonteluna® tomato sugo is the best-selling dish in the Caffè Bar, and coincidentally what we eat most weeks for Sunday lunch. Our own Fonteluna® salsiccia is made with the original family recipe which is several hundred years old.

What have been the hardest and best years?

Every day is a new challenge in Valvona & Crolla – and the best day. Even after 90 years you can never be prepared for what the shop throws at you when you open the front door. Stress, hilarity, bizarre coincidences, quality encounters, happy customers – there is never a dull moment. We are always looking forward – humble and grateful to be trading, together with our experienced colleagues, serving our customers.

Most memorable moments?

Our first delivery of Italian vegetables from the Milan market in 1995, and every week ever since. Opening The Little Theatre as Fringe Venue 67 in 1993 (the first retail shop to have a theatre), then the Caffè Bar in 1996 (the first delicatessen in the UK to have a Caffè), the first Funghi Foray (still the first and only shop to do this) foraging sessions, which started with Professor Roy Watling in 1999, and are still going strong with Neville Kilkenny to this day. The first meeting with Giorgio Cravero in 1991, the most notable affineur of top-quality Parmigiano. We hosted a free vertical tasting of Tignanello Antinori in Prestonfield House in 1988 with Piero Antinori and in 2024 with his daughter and fellow director, Allegra Antinori. When we welcomed wine personality Angelo Gaja for a tasting in the shop. In the mid Eighties, Philip’s first meetings with  the elite of Italian wine in UK such as Ercole Giordano, Renato Trestini, Remo Nardone, Richard Hobson, Nicholas Belfrage, Luciana Lynch, Maureen Ashley, David Gleave, Michael Benson, Michael Garner and Joseph Berkmann, to name but a few,

Sir Alexander McCall Smith including us and making Valvona & Crolla part of the continuing story in his wonderful Scotland Street books. Then there was receiving the Royal Warrant to Supply of Fine Cheese to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1998.

Any famous customers over the decades?

 We don’t kiss and tell.

What do customers say they love most about V&C?

 That we are still here and nothing changes.

Any plans for your centenary year?

 Welcoming the next generation into the family business.

www.valvonacrolla.co.uk