Trattoria Danio - friendly neighbourhood lunch stop

Danio is a traditional, friendly, value for money, neighbourhood trattoria. Bologna retains the Italian tradition of the proper sit up lunch - 3 courses with bread and even a little wine. For those who cannot get home for their lunch break the local trattoria still provides a home from home and this is clearly a place where local office workers and labourers come.
Founded in 1937 but bought by the Gelfusa family in 1957, Danio has become a Bolognese institution that prides itself on hand made pasta. Fixed price menus can be a lottery but for €11.50 (April 2009) we ate well. We had tagliatelle al romagnolo and penne all’ arrabiata followed by roast chicken and steak. The pasta, in particular, was very good, and so was the atmosphere. Everyone seems to know everyone. Bustling around was an old geezer who was clearly the boss.



Lino - the boss...dishwasher

Or so we thought. Later when we were interviewing Fabio Gelfusa, who with his brother and father, runs the place, we discovered that Lino is actually the dishwasher. ‘But he’s always worked here, and being here keeps him busy, even if he’s always in the way’, Fabio explains.
Go at lunchtime for the fixed price menus – there is also one at €7.5 – or in the evening for a more extensive menu including crescentine.


Franco, Fabio and Rocca Gelfusa

Via San Felice, 50

40122 Bologna
051 555 202
Open from 12.00 pm to 3.00 pm and from 7.00 pm to 12.00 am.