Trattoria da Mario Trastevere · since 1958 Book a table

Since 1958

Three generations, one kitchen

Nobody in this family set out to run a restaurant for seventy years. It happened one lunch service at a time.

In 1958 Mario Bassi was a bricklayer with a good hand for pasta. He took the lease on a shuttered wine shop because the rent was cheap and the room had a good window, and he cooked for the men he had worked with that morning.

Word travelled the way it does in Trastevere. Six tables became twelve, the chalkboard by the door stayed, and three generations later we still write the day's dishes on it in Mario's handwriting — because Chiara learned to write from him.

How we got here

  1. 1958 Mario Bassi takes over a shuttered wine shop on Via dei Cappellari and puts six tables in it.
  2. 1974 The wood-fired oven arrives on the back of a borrowed truck. It has not been cold since.
  3. 1991 Mario's son Giulio takes over the kitchen and adds the sea bass that is still on the menu.
  4. 2019 Chiara, Mario's granddaughter, comes home from Bologna and takes the pass.

What we care about

Recipes, not trends

The ragù has been simmering the same way since 1958. We change the menu with the seasons, never with the fashion.

Bought this morning

Vegetables come from the market at Campo de' Fiori and the fish from Fiumicino. If it is not good today, it is not on the board today.

Fire and patience

The oven runs at 450°C and the dough proves for 48 hours. Neither of those can be hurried, so we do not try.

Meet the family

Chiara Bassi

Head chef

Third generation. Trained in Bologna, cooks like her grandmother.

Giulio Bassi

Pasta and pizza

Rolls the tagliatelle every morning and refuses to be photographed.

Sofia Marchetti

Front of house

Knows every regular's table, wine and grandchildren.