From a story by Roberto Cosma

Our story is like many Italian stories, a family business that began with my maternal grandparents, Aldo and Pierina. My grandfather, Aldo, started as an employee in 1962. Over time, thanks to his skills and experience, he moved into management and eventually became the owner. We are now the third generation.

The trattoria has always been a point of reference, both for the local community, which was certainly more significant in the past, and especially for those arriving from the train station (employees, postal workers, railway workers, tourists). It was the trattoria for travelers. Our cuisine has always been very homey, typical of a trattoria, and served promptly. Over time, we have tried to adapt to changes while maintaining our personality: there is immediacy in our dishes, there is the right attention to plating without letting the visual aspect dominate, and there is the use of quality ingredients, this is something that characterises us. This is what we know how to do, so we continue to do it. The Puglian origins of our father have certainly been influential, making olive oil dominant over seed oil, and fresh tomato sauce over concentrate.

Over the years, there has been an evolution in the careful selection of raw materials, as well as in the wine offerings, always considering the reference area, which is the northeast (because these are the wines we can better pair with our dishes), with occasional foreign additions (French, German, Austrian). But the core remains the same: seasonal cuisine, primarily focused on seafood, from soft-shell crabs to spider crabs. We have streamlined the menu as well; we don’t serve “touristy” dishes, but we do make lasagna well, so why not offer it? It’s a family thing for us; it doesn’t matter if it has become mainstream. We also make gnocchi with lamb sauce, a dish my grandfather used to make, not traditional, one might say, but we continue to prepare it. The same goes for various braised meat dishes that become sauces to serve with pasta or polenta.

Of course, the menu always adapts to demand. We have a resident clientele, both long-standing customers and new ones, who seek quality, authenticity, a personal connection – the feeling of being at home, human contact. This means a lot to us.

As for the rest, we are at the forefront of tourist traffic, and we can’t ignore this fact, but just because 10 million people pass by here doesn’t mean we serve more meals; paradoxically, we serve fewer. What we can do is try to create demand and, consequently, informed tourism. In our small way, we can continue to promote our region and traditions, hoping that it contributes to making visitors more aware. However, it doesn’t solely depend on us. Many of these dynamics are macroeconomic, and in reality, we are affected by them when Venice should have an industrial policy for the tourism industry based on quality – simply meaning tourists who spend better and more consciously when visiting Venice, not necessarily more or less. But these are long processes.

Personally, I identify with the principles of Good Hospitality. Becoming a part of it was a recognition of professionalism by colleagues and the public, and that was beautiful. For me, Good Hospitality represents a group of restaurants that interpret Venetian food and wine culture in their own way. The founding elements for which one identifies within this association must remain clear: seasonality, sourcing of ingredients, and sustainable ethics. The ambition now is to convey a message that Venice can grow, build a supply chain (see the Osti in orto project), and, above all, create a community, in the hope that more and more entities will gather around this idea and join the association.