When they landed in Melbourne a little more than three years ago, Loris and Rafaella Barsiola spoke no English. They came to Brevard because Raffaella's brother was here.

"We knew we would need help," she said.

Less than a year later, they opened the Bacco Wine Cafe in the Post Commons Shopping Center at 4100 N. Wickham Road.

Today, thei adopted English language, like their native Italian food and wine, is excellent.

They left Raffaella's hometown Loana, Italy, and arrived in Melbourne in December 1999. Although their family had been in the restaurant business in Italy, the Bacco Wine Cafe is the first restaurant owned by Loris and Raffaella. They opened in November 2000.

The menu reflects their northern Italian heritage. Pastas are onthe menu, but pizza is not. Loana is only about a half-hour drive from Monaco and France. Loris' birthplace, Florence, is not much farther away.

The menu changes frequently so regular guests find new dishes to tease their appetites. Raffaella likes variety in what she cooks, and so do her customers. Her kitchen may offer fresh, homemade pastas, roast beef or pork, or other northern Italian dishes not found in shallow, square delivery boxes.

"After two years, our guests have a taste for real Italian food," Raffaella Barsiola said. "We have doctors, lawyers and professionals - people whohave traveled and know real Italian."

As the name suggests, wines are a central feature of dining at the Bacco Wine Cafe. After all, Bacco is the modern Italian rendering of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine.

Besides a nice daily selection, once each month they offer a wine lover's special dinner and wine tasting. They serve a five-course dinner, from appetizer through dessert.

With each course, wine is served, carefully selected to compliment the food. It may be a white, a red, or a sparkling wine, depending on which food it accompanies. Whatever its color or character, it will be an Italian wine, of course.

The wine tasting dinners are usually offered at 6:30 p.m. the first or second Sunday of each month. Specific dates and times are noted on a blackboard inside the restaurant. Reservations are required.

Normal hours are for dinner only, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 5:30 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The only Sunday seatings arefor the reservations-only wine tasting dinners. For information, call 259-3456.

If you haven't done so already, you might want to plan an evening soon to have dinner at the fairly new Bacco Wine Cafe in Melbourne.

Tucked away in the post Commons on Wickham Road (across from the King Center), this small, up-scale-style trattoria is run by a pair of enterprising young Italians, Raffaella and Loris Barsioola, both of whom haill from the Savona area of Liguria, the seacoast curve known as the Italian Riviera stretching from San Remo to the Cinque Terre.

Rafaella presides in Bacco's tiny kitchen, producing dishes unique to that region of Italy. All are made with fresh ingredients, cooked to order, and the limited menu changes weekly. Loris handles the dining room's selection of Italian wines, available by the bottle, some by the glass.

A nearby foursome of diners, Dennis and Laura peigner of Merritt Island and Shelly and Judy Stevens of Cocoa Beach were enjoying their third bottle of 1997 Contessa di Radda Chianti Classico with their dinners of Chicken Scallopine alla Marsala, seafood-stuffed crespelle, a type of crepe, and Brasato, and they were all good, according to the group.

We, in turn waltzed our tastebuds through the evening's Piatto Misto of nibbles, then the special Maltaglialti al noci, homemade pasta triangles napped with a creamy sauce flavored with grated Parmesean, and pounded walnut meats, and the Brasato con polenta - very thin slices of braised roast beef (like pot roast) sauced with a sun dried tomato pesto over polenta ($14).

Because each region of Italy has special dishes, don't expect to find pizzas or classic southern Italian cuisine here. I love panna cotta, (cooked cream), a molded, slightly gelatinous dessert with fresh berries or caramel sauce, and rafaella executes it to perfection.

Bacco Wine Cafe, at 4100 N. Wickham Road, Melbounre (behind Walgreen's), is a find for adventurous foodies. It's open for dinner only at 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Reservations are recommended. Call (321) 259-3456.