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Demonstration project. Trattoria Colasanti does not exist. Concept by Imanextagon.
Trattoria Colasanti Rome · since 1964
IT Book
The entrance to Trattoria Colasanti on Via Albalonga at dusk

Our story

Three generations,
one room

Two hundred metres from where we started

In 1964 Ennio Colasanti rented two rooms on Via Albalonga, put six tables in them and wrote the menu by hand. We still write it by hand.

The family

Who kept it open

First generation

Ennio and Iole Colasanti

1964 – 1989

Ennio out front, Iole in the kitchen. Six tables, one menu a day, and the garofolato recipe we still use.

Second generation

Nando Colasanti

1989 – 2016

The son. He bought the room next door and took the trattoria to eighty covers. He never touched the menu.

Third generation

Giulia Colasanti

since 2016

The granddaughter. She added English menus and WhatsApp bookings. In the kitchen she changed nothing.

Year by year

What changed in the room

  • 1964

    Two rooms, six tables

    Ennio signs the lease in March and opens in May. The first menu is written by hand on butcher paper.

  • 1972

    The wood oven arrives

    Bought second-hand from a bakery in Torpignattara. It is still there, and it still works.

  • 1994

    The second room

    Nando buys the room next door and opens the wall. Thirty covers become eighty.

  • 2011

    The kitchen rebuilt

    Everything new at the back. Out front, the chairs from 1964 stayed, replaced once in sixty years.

  • 2016

    The first English menu

    Giulia takes over and translates the cards. San Giovanni had filled with visitors. The dining room had not.

  • 2019

    Bookings move to WhatsApp

    The kitchen phone rang through service. Now you book with a message, and one of us answers.

Ennio's dish

Garofolato di manzo

It is the one dish we do not touch. Beef, cloves, celery, three hours of slow cooking.

Ennio made it on Sundays. Then every day, because people came in and asked for it. The recipe is on a sheet of paper pinned up in the kitchen, in his handwriting.

See the menu →
Slow-braised beef with celery in a rich sauce, served at the table

The constants

What does not change

  • 01The menu written by hand every morning, around whatever the market has
  • 02The garofolato recipe, unchanged since 1964
  • 03The wood oven from 1972
  • 04The 2€ cover charge, and no service percentage
  • 05Closed Monday, without exception
  • 06Whoever answers your message works in the dining room

Come and see

Sixty-two yearsand a free table

Message us on WhatsApp with the day, the time and how many of you. A person replies, not an automated system.

Book on WhatsApp →