Restaurant in Modena, Italy
Puglia cooking near Modena, easy to book.

La Masseria brings Apulian cooking to a converted watermill outside Modena, with a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025 and a wine list that punches well above its price tier. The antipasti buffet, house-made pasta, and grilled meat format makes it the right book for a relaxed, regionally specific meal. Accessible pricing and easy booking make it one of the lower-risk, higher-reward options in the Modena area.
La Masseria is the right call if you want a genuine taste of Puglia without leaving the Modena area, at a price point that makes it one of the more accessible Michelin Plate restaurants in the province. It suits couples or small groups looking for a relaxed lunch or dinner built around southern Italian cooking: vegetable-forward antipasti, handmade pasta, and grilled meat, served in an old watermill on the edge of Marzaglia. If you are in Modena primarily for the Emilian canon — tortellini in brodo, tigelle, aged balsamic , this is a deliberate detour, and a worthwhile one. If you want the Modena prestige circuit, book Osteria Francescana instead. But if you want something quieter, more regional in a different sense, and easier on your wallet, La Masseria earns its place on the shortlist.
The setting is a converted watermill on the Strada Chiesa Marzaglia, a few kilometres outside the city centre. Visually, expect an agricultural building repurposed for hospitality: stone, timber, the texture of an old working structure rather than a polished city room. For a first-timer, the drive out is part of the experience , this is not a restaurant you stumble into, which means the crowd skews intentional. Locals who know what they want from a Puglian spread, and visitors who have done their homework.
The food format is structured around a vegetable-based antipasti buffet as the opening move , a generous, self-directed start that signals the kitchen's priorities. Puglia's cooking is historically one of Italy's most vegetable-driven regional traditions, and the antipasti here reflect that. House-made pastas follow, alongside main courses that run from baked vegetable pies to meat grilled over an open barbecue. Desserts arrive in a basket: chocolate-covered dried fruit and nuts among the options. It is a format that rewards appetite and curiosity rather than a two-course efficiency stop.
Kitchen team is named in the record: Chef Giuseppe Coladonato leads the cooking, with Vincenzo Ruggiero as both wine director and co-owner, and Vito Schiavone as general manager. The ownership structure , Ruggiero, Giuseppe Iuele, and Coladonato , is a working partnership with culinary skin in the game, which tends to produce more consistent results than absentee ownership. Michelin awarded a Plate in both 2024 and 2025, which signals cooking that meets a recognised quality threshold without claiming star-level ambition. For a first-timer, that is a useful calibration: this is a serious kitchen, not a tourist trap, but the format is convivial rather than ceremonial.
Wine list at La Masseria is more substantial than the price tier and rural address would suggest, and it is the detail that most separates this restaurant from comparable regional spots. Wine director Vincenzo Ruggiero oversees a cellar of 3,800 bottles across 320 selections, with particular depth in Piedmont and Tuscany. For a single-euro price-range restaurant outside a mid-sized Italian city, that is a serious inventory. The list is priced at the $$ tier , a range of options rather than exclusively budget or exclusively premium , which means you can drink well here without committing to a prestige bottle, or you can spend up if the occasion calls for it.
Pairing logic works in your favour. Apulian cooking , olive oil-rich antipasti, pasta with southern-style sauces, grilled meat , traditionally sits well against southern Italian reds, but Ruggiero's focus on Piedmont and Tuscany suggests the list is built for the broader Italian canon rather than strict regional matching. Primitivo and Negroamaro from Puglia pair naturally with this food; Barolo or Brunello alongside the grilled meat course is an equally defensible choice if you are working through the Piedmont or Tuscan sections. A corkage fee of $50 applies if you bring your own bottle, which is worth factoring in if you are travelling with a specific wine in mind.
For context on how this wine program sits relative to the broader Italian dining scene, restaurants like Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence operate at an entirely different scale and price point. At La Masseria, the wine program is a genuine asset rather than an afterthought , it punches above the restaurant's price tier and gives the meal a dimension that casual regional trattorias rarely offer.
Booking difficulty at La Masseria is rated Easy. This is not a restaurant that requires weeks of advance planning in the way that Modena's most sought-after tables do. That said, the location outside the city centre means it rewards planning your visit as a deliberate trip rather than a spontaneous detour. Check availability before you travel and confirm your reservation, particularly for weekend lunch or dinner when the room will be busier. The restaurant serves both lunch and dinner, which gives you scheduling flexibility that a dinner-only venue would not.
The address , Str. Chiesa Marzaglia, 61, 41010 Marzaglia MO , is outside central Modena, so factor in transport. A taxi or rental car is the practical choice; this is not a walkable evening from the city's hotel district. For a full Modena dining strategy, including options closer to the centre, see our full Modena restaurants guide. If you are building a broader itinerary, our Modena hotels guide, Modena bars guide, Modena wineries guide, and Modena experiences guide cover the rest of the city.
If Apulian cuisine is the draw rather than the Modena address specifically, two restaurants worth knowing are Pashà in Conversano and Quintessenza in Trani , both operating in Puglia proper with deep regional roots. For Italian regional cooking at a higher level of ambition during travels elsewhere in Italy, Dal Pescatore in Runate, Uliassi in Senigallia, and Reale in Castel di Sangro represent different points on the spectrum of serious Italian regional cooking worth planning a trip around.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Masseria | This restaurant housed in an old watermill offers a taste of Puglia just outside Modena, where it serves typical specialities from this southern Italian region. The menu includes a vegetable-based antipasti buffet, superb home-made pastas, and main dishes that range from delicious baked vegetable pies to meat cooked over the barbecue grill. To finish, the desserts are served in a basket and feature a selection of sweet delicacies such as chocolate-covered dried fruit and nuts.; Michelin Plate (2025); WINE: Wine Strengths: Piedmont, Tuscany, Italy Pricing: $$ i Wine pricing: Based on the list\'s general markup and high and low price points:$ has many bottles < $50;$$ has a range of pricing;$$$ has many $100+ bottles Corkage Fee: $50 Selections: 320 Inventory: 3,800 CUISINE: Cuisine Types: Italian Pricing: $$ i Cuisine pricing: The cost of a typical two-course meal, not including tip or beverages.$ is < $40;$$ is $40–$65;$$$ is $66+. Meals: Lunch and Dinner STAFF: People Wine Director: Vincenzo Ruggiero Chef: Giuseppe Coladonato General Manager: Vito Schiavone Owner: Vincenzo Ruggiero, Giuseppe Iuele, Giuseppe Coladonato; Michelin Plate (2024) | € | — |
| Osteria Francescana | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Al Gatto Verde | Michelin 1 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Hosteria Giusti | €€€ | — | |
| L'Erba del Re | Michelin 1 Star | €€€€ | — |
| Casa Maria Luigia | — |
A quick look at how La Masseria measures up.
Dress casually. La Masseria is set in a converted watermill on a rural road outside Modena, and the Apulian cooking and € price point signal a relaxed atmosphere. Leave the formal wear for Osteria Francescana. Clean, comfortable clothes are appropriate here.
At the € price tier, yes. The Michelin Plate — awarded in both 2024 and 2025 — confirms the cooking clears a credibility threshold that most €-range restaurants in the area do not reach. The wine list adds further value: 320 selections and 3,800 bottles is a serious program for this price bracket, priced at the $$ level.
It works for a relaxed, low-key celebration rather than a formal milestone dinner. The rural watermill setting and Apulian comfort cooking make it a good fit for a birthday lunch or a casual anniversary meal. For a high-formality occasion, Hosteria Giusti or L'Erba del Re in central Modena are better-suited options.
The menu leans vegetable-forward by structure: the antipasti buffet is vegetable-based, and baked vegetable pies feature among the main courses alongside meat. That coverage suggests the kitchen can work with non-meat eaters, but specific allergy or intolerance needs should be confirmed directly before booking, as detailed policy data is not on record.
No bar seating is documented for La Masseria. Given the watermill setting and Apulian restaurant format, this is a sit-down dining venue rather than a bar-dining operation. Book a table.
For Modena city-centre dining at a comparable or higher level, Hosteria Giusti and L'Erba del Re are the clearest alternatives. Al Gatto Verde suits those after a more local, neighbourhood feel. If budget is not a constraint and the occasion demands it, Casa Maria Luigia is Massimo Bottura's countryside property and sits in a different category entirely.
Tasting menu details are not documented in available venue data. What is confirmed is that the menu spans a vegetable antipasti buffet, house-made pastas, main courses, and desserts served from a basket — a structure that reads more like a full à la carte progression than a formal tasting format. At the € price point, ordering across all courses is already low-risk.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.