Bologna's most exciting reinvention is this formerly uneventful trattoria transformed by chef Elisa Rusconi, who triumphed on Italian television show 4 Ristoranti and upgraded her grandfather's restaurant – at it since 1937 – into a daring, must-stop dining destination in the city's culinary landscape.
Traditional dishes (a rich, buttery ragù, for example) sit alongside tremendous Erborinato (blue cheese) gelato and impossibly tender and juicy panko-fried chicken with a lemongrass, lime and chilli-pepper-spiced sour cream, or slow-cooked pork with peanut and coconut sauce. Apron-clad servers – among Bologna's hippest, friendliest and best – navigate the bright, shabby-chic dining room splashed with 19th-century adverts. Put it on your list!
