Finding the Best Italian Restaurant in Lecce in Southern Italy

This was going to be tougher that it seemed. Finding the best Italian restaurant in Ohio or Kansas may be relatively simple, but I live in Southern Italy! It’s like finding a needle in a haystack! But I wasn’t to give up so easily. If anything, this was going to be fun, and hopefully not too expensive. So with my wife and daughter in tow we hit the streets. Our destination: the nearby city of Lecce. Renowned for its Baroque style of architecture so prevalent in the “Centro Storico” or Old Town, Lecce is also known for its trattoria’s. (Pronounced trat-tor-ree-ah). These “Mom and Pop” type restaurants are popular because typically the food is good, the prices low and the atmosphere relaxing. Just like home!

Well, that covered my top three criteria pretty much in a nut shell. But where to begin? Like a lot of Italian cities, when it comes to restaurants, Lecce runs the gamut from one extreme to the other. You want to eat a meal that will end up costing you a second mortgage on your house? You can find it! Or you want something so simple you’ll be elbow to elbow eating soup with the homeless? You can find that as well.

I was looking for something in the middle. Something that spoke of Italy yet wasn’t blatantly catering to tourists. I wanted a place where the common folk ate. A place that would feed me. Feed me a lot. And in a pleasant surrounding. A place like the “Trattoria di Nonna Tetti” which translates roughly to the “Restaurant of Grandma Tetti”.