Trattoria Amerigo

Trattoria Amerigo sits in the hillside village of Savigno, approximately 30 kilometres southwest of Bologna in the Apennine foothills of Emilia-Romagna, and has been drawing dedicated food travellers out of the city for decades. The restaurant is embedded in a centuries-old farmhouse and sells its own preserved products, wines, and conserves from the attached shop, giving the whole operation the feeling of a working agricultural larder rather than a mere restaurant. The Palmieri family oversees a kitchen built entirely around ingredients foraged or sourced from the immediate Apennine territory: white truffles from the surrounding hills in autumn (September to November), porcini mushrooms in summer, chestnut flour for tagliolini in winter, and wild boar that has been hunted locally. The white truffle tagliatelle—fresh pasta dressed with shaved local truffle and nothing else—is perhaps the finest distillation of this philosophy: a dish of three or four ingredients that relies entirely on the quality of what was found that morning. Wild boar braised with juniper and polenta is the signature secondo for colder months; in spring, the kitchen turns to lamb and wild herbs. The wine list is regional and well-chosen, with local Colli Bolognesi labels and a few Pignoletto producers. The dining room is warm and rustic, with stone walls and wooden beams, and the atmosphere on a busy Sunday lunch is convivial rather than formal. Reservations are strongly recommended, particularly during truffle season when the restaurant fills weeks in advance.