Small restaurant, big kitchen
The trattoria is the homely little sister of the ristorante: less formal, cheaper, with a small menu, but with dishes of the season. Often the family stands in the kitchen, the son takes the order, and the history of the house clings to the walls.
In old towns, the number of historic trattorias has declined — the young left, tourism came, rents rose. Yet those that remained have preserved something authentic — not in a starred menu, but in the small, quiet room on a side street.