At table with Virginia Woolf at “Gli Antichi Sapori”

Full of enthusiasm and shy friendliness. He is Davide, owner of “Antichi Sapori” since 1995. In the beginning, the cuisine was typically Parmesan, handed down above all by mother Teresa. The history of this restaurant, a few kilometres from Parma, begins in postwar as a tavern always open, ready to welcome the citizens for a snack or the compatriots for a game of boules or cards.

Find yourself seated at a table, in a quiet and refined environment, sipping a good glass of red wine with the air which smells of the fragrance of the onion caramelized pie with Parmesan mousse that rests on the table: it could be the beginning of a culinary experience that makes your memory travel. Memories of Sunday lunches at home.

Virginia Woolf wrote, "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well if one has not dined well".

It is precisely this thought that inspires the staff of the "Antichi Sapori" restaurant: pampering the customer in the most pleasant moment of the day with typical local dishes in a friendly atmosphere. Satisfying the palate and memory with traditional dishes, prepared with attention to tradition, but served with a modern presentation, are the cornerstones of local cuisine.

But that looks ahead and looks around. Which re-proposes a long Parmesan culinary tradition, thanks to recipes handed down from generation to generation. But that does not disdain reinterpretations and accepts original challenges. Which vary according to the seasonality of raw materials with special attention to freshness and quality. With a strong and light flavour in compliance with today's trends that must combine gluttony and diet.

Tortelli d'erbetta, tripe, anolini and an endless parade of typical dishes that come out of the kitchen, transport customers to other times.

When from the kitchens of memory came the scent of lunch almost ready, the noise of the dishes in the dining room and you could see the kitchen table still whitened with flour and the rolling pin used to roll fresh pasta. Veal kidney and roasted octopus, to name two dishes from a crowded list, which dance steaming over the courses brought by the waiters, instead, tell us that we are in the right place to eat well and quietly.

It is a traditional trattoria with an accentuated touch of modernity, which satisfies and reconciles pleasure and lightness. So that at the end of the meal it can happen to be in the company of a snowman, who with his chocolate eyes observes us curiously from the plate. A round and soft body which when tasted, is understood to be of white chocolate mousse, yoghurt ice cream and yuzu cream.

Davide Censi's Antichi Sapori Trattoria is a recommended place to discover the gastronomic nature of the Italian capital of culture 2020 and fully enjoy the flavour of a city on the move in the atmosphere and scents of the past, revisited in a modern way.