Ristorante Tre Noci

Under the bell tower of Spirano and in the shadow of the three gigantic walnut trees that gave the restaurant its name, Camillo Cristini opened the restaurant in 1968. Once he left the blacksmith's clothes behind, he dedicated himself to his passion for cooking by taking over the license from the restaurant in front of his childhood home.

Success didn’t take long to arrive, thanks in particular to the renowned meat cooked on the grill of the large wood fireplace. The children practically grew up inside the restaurant and then remained united and supportive to manage the place that many still know by its original name, Tre Noci. Even if, in reality, for some years the only traces of the three walnut trees (Tre Noci) remain on the sign. Like the trees, there are three sisters who move between the rooms, Emy, Daniela and Loredana, who rules the kitchen. The brother Giovanni, the only male child, is now working alongside his nephew (known as Giovannino as he is the youngest), who is the master of cooking on the fires. Fires is used in the plural because there is the huge one, in the corner of the large dining room, as well as the external fire that is used in the summer (a nice outdoor space surrounded by a well-kept garden).

Meat cooked on the grill on the wood fire is always in pole position: the mammoth Florentine steak which takes the name "matrimonial" because of its adequate size to satisfy the appetite of a couple, beef fillets and ribs, pork ribs and cotechini. But it would be an understatement to stop at what has always been the emblem of their gastronomy.

The menu is complete and offers a range of traditional dishes prepared with rare precision and female delicacy. Home-style cooking in the highest sense, of those houses where everything is taken care of with the utmost perfection, including the atmosphere and service. To begin with is salami and caprino cheese in oil, served in a bowl from which you can help yourself "ad libitum". Then there are the first courses: fresh pasta, made at home, seasoned or filled, from casoncelli to the historic recipe of gnocchi with four cheeses, from tagliatelle with duck ragout and cotechino tortelli and bean puree. Alternatively, and we highly recommend it, tripe with artichokes. As a “carnivorous” alternative to that of the grill, there is braised beef cheek with borettane onions, veal with potatoes and sautéed veal kidney. The wine list has many good labels served with reasonable mark-ups.

THE BILL: on average 40 euros eating everything (and a lot) excluding drinks.