Restaurant in Sarturano, Italy
Third-generation trattoria, honest food, €-range prices.
A family-run Piacenza hillside trattoria operating since 1939, now in its third generation and recognised with a 2024 Michelin Plate. At a single euro-sign price range with a 4.5-star Google rating across 602 reviews, it offers one of northern Italy's clearest value propositions for regional country cooking: homemade pasta, Piacenza cured meats, and roast meats in a room shaped by eight decades of continuity.
Yes, if you are looking for honest, deeply rooted Piacenza countryside cooking at a price point that has almost no equivalent in Italian restaurant culture today. At a single-euro-sign price range, Giovanelli delivers a meal that earns a 2024 Michelin Plate and a 4.5-star Google rating across 602 reviews — that combination of institutional recognition and sustained local approval is a reliable signal that this is not a one-off experience. The question is less whether the food justifies the cost and more whether the drive into the hills of the Piacentino is compatible with your itinerary.
Sarturano is a small rural settlement in the province of Piacenza, in the foothills of the Emilian Apennines. There is no restaurant strip here, no tourist infrastructure, and no particular reason to arrive unless you are looking for exactly this kind of place. Antica Trattoria Giovanelli has been the village's dining anchor since 1939, now in its third generation of family ownership. That lineage matters not as biography but as context: the menu and the room have been shaped by eight decades of feeding people who live and work in this landscape, not by a concept imported from elsewhere.
The physical setting reflects that history. The trattoria sits at the foot of the surrounding hills, in a rural environment that determines the character of the space rather than decorating it. Expect a room that reads as functional and lived-in rather than designed for atmosphere — the kind of dining room where the layout serves the pace of a long Sunday lunch rather than the drama of a special-occasion dinner. Tables are the right distance apart for conversation. The space is scaled for local families and passing travellers, not for a destination-dining crowd. If you are arriving from a city and calibrating expectations against contemporary restaurant interiors, recalibrate: the value here is in the cooking and the continuity, not the room's visual ambition.
The food is rooted squarely in the Piacenza tradition. Cured hams , salumi from this province are among the most serious in Italy, protected by designation and shaped by the local microclimate , lead the table alongside roast and boiled meats. Homemade pastas carry particular weight in the menu's reputation, which tracks with the broader Emilia-Romagna commitment to pasta as a technical craft rather than a carbohydrate category. The almond tart with zabaione closes the meal in the same register: regional, seasonal in spirit, not trying to be anything it is not. This is not a menu designed for flexibility or substitution. You are eating what this part of Italy produces and what this family knows how to cook.
For the food-focused traveller making a broader sweep of northern Italian dining, Giovanelli fits logically into a Piacenza or Emilia itinerary rather than a standalone destination. The province sits between Parma to the south and Milan to the north-west, and the surrounding countryside rewards the kind of unhurried driving that lets you stop for a lunch like this one. Pairing Giovanelli with a visit to one of Piacenza's town restaurants or continuing east toward Parma and Modena makes geographic sense. If you are in the region and skipping this in favour of something urban and better-known, you are trading depth of place for convenience.
The Michelin Plate designation, introduced as a way to recognise quality cooking that does not reach starred level, is the right framing for Giovanelli: cooking that is technically sound and regionally meaningful without aspiring to creative or progressive registers. At this price tier, it sits in a category with almost no competition from above. The restaurants that share Emilia-Romagna's highest critical attention , [Dal Pescatore in Runate](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/dal-pescatore-runate-restaurant), [Osteria Francescana in Modena](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/osteria-francescana), [Le Calandre in Rubano](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/le-calandre-rubano-restaurant) , operate at €€€€ and serve entirely different meals. Giovanelli is not trying to compete with them and does not need to. It is the thing those restaurants are abstractly referencing when they invoke tradition: an actual working trattoria with an unbroken line of ownership and a menu that has not been engineered for a tasting format.
For further exploration of northern Italian country cooking in a similar register, [21.9 in Piobesi d'Alba](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/219-piobesi-dalba-restaurant) and [Andrea Monesi at Locanda di Orta in Orta San Giulio](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/andrea-monesi-locanda-di-orta-orta-san-giulio-restaurant) occupy comparable territory in Piedmont. Closer to Piacenza, [Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/enoteca-pinchiorri) and [Piazza Duomo in Alba](https://www.joinpearl.co/restaurants/piazza-duomo-alba-restaurant) represent the region's higher-register options for the same itinerary if you want contrast across price tiers.
Booking is rated easy. With no website or phone listed in current records, the most reliable approach is to call ahead directly or enquire through your accommodation in the area. Given the rural location and the family-run scale of the operation, arriving without checking is a risk , not because the room is hard to secure, but because hours and seasonal closures at this type of trattoria are not always predictable from outside. Plan to confirm before you drive.
If you are building a Sarturano itinerary beyond this meal, see our full Sarturano restaurants guide, our full Sarturano hotels guide, our full Sarturano bars guide, our full Sarturano wineries guide, and our full Sarturano experiences guide.
Quick reference: Michelin Plate 2024 · Google 4.5/5 (602 reviews) · Price range: € · Booking: easy, confirm ahead by phone or via local accommodation · Location: Via Centrale, 5, Sarturano PC, Italy.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antica Trattoria Giovanelli | Country cooking | € | Situated in a charming rural setting at the foot of the surrounding hills, this trattoria has been run by the same family (now on the third generation) since 1939. Regional cuisine is to the fore here, with cured hams and roast and boiled meats all featuring on the menu, as well as its highly recommended homemade pastas and the almond tart with zabaione.; Situated in a charming rural setting at the foot of the surrounding hills, this trattoria has been run by the same family (now on the third generation) since 1939. Regional cuisine is to the fore here, with cured hams and roast and boiled meats all featuring on the menu, as well as its highly recommended homemade pastas and the almond tart with zabaione.; Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dal Pescatore | Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Osteria Francescana | Progressive Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Quattro Passi | Italian, Mediterranean Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Reale | Progressive Italian, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
At the € price range, this is about as straightforward a yes as Italian dining gets. Michelin awarded it a Plate in 2024, and the menu covers cured hams, roast and boiled meats, homemade pastas, and an almond tart with zabaione — all rooted in Piacenza regional tradition. You will not find this combination of credential and price in many Italian restaurants at any level.
This is a rural trattoria in Sarturano, a small settlement in the Piacenza foothills — you are driving out here deliberately, not stumbling in. The kitchen has been run by the same family since 1939 and is now in its third generation, so expect a fixed, traditional menu rather than a frequently changing seasonal card. Go for the homemade pastas and the almond tart with zabaione, both of which Michelin specifically flags.
It works well for a low-key celebration that is about the food rather than the setting. The Michelin Plate recognition and the 85-year family history give the meal real substance, but the rural trattoria format means this is not the place for a formal anniversary dinner with white-glove service. For that, Dal Pescatore or Osteria Francescana in the broader region would be the appropriate step up.
The venue database does not include layout or bar seating details for Giovanelli. Traditional rural trattorias of this type in Italy typically centre on sit-down table service rather than bar dining, so arriving expecting a counter meal is a risk. Contact the trattoria directly before visiting if bar seating is a priority.
The homemade pastas and the almond tart with zabaione are the two items Michelin specifically calls out, and at a € price point there is no reason to skip either. The menu also features cured hams and roast and boiled meats that reflect the Piacenza regional larder — order broadly across these categories rather than treating it as a single-dish stop.
No tasting menu is documented for Antica Trattoria Giovanelli. The format here is a traditional trattoria menu of regional dishes rather than a structured tasting sequence. If a tasting menu format is important to you, Reale or Osteria Francescana would be more appropriate choices in the broader Italian context.
There are no documented restaurant alternatives within Sarturano itself — it is a small rural settlement with Giovanelli as its anchor dining option. The nearest credentialed alternatives require a drive into the wider Piacenza or Emilia-Romagna region. For a step up in formality and price, Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull'Oglio or Osteria Francescana in Modena are the regional reference points, though both operate in an entirely different price bracket.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
