Located on the via Probi in Atri, the Osteria dei Cantautori was an excellent, intimate lunchtime find after a visit to the Atri Cathedral and the C12th benedictine cloister hosting the Museo Capitolare.

The restaurant is attractively laid out, spacious & light, primarily orange/red & white with a locally sourced stone valuted ceiling making you feel you are in a cosy little bistro.  The walls are decorated with a variety of musical instruments (cantautore means singer-songwriter in Italian, and the venue even has a small ‘teatro’ where live performances sometimes take place).

This time we decided to skip antipasta and enjoy a pasta dish each and “secondi piatti”. The pasta dishes were both very good, one  pappardelle with minced meat with walnut, a great combination of textures with pasta perfectly cooked; the other pasta dish utilised Abruzzo’s regional speciality chittara with local mushrooms and sage, a tad too much butter for the tastes of our diner.

Our main courses consisted of chunky sections of tender boar in a sort of ragu sauce, which was very good; the other, a dish which starred beautifully presented grilled pleurotus mushrooms, accompanied by a potato & pancetta gratinato.  The mushrooms were an excellent succulent source of juicy tenderness, surprisingly meaty in flavour & texture, rich and remarkably substantive. One would have sufficed!

Typical Abruzzo restaurant inexpensive prices as opposed to agriturismo cheap, but the food was refreshingly different and ambitious; we accompanied our food with the table wine, a yummy fruity smooth Montepulciano d’abruzzo called Majolica, from the Podere Castorani estate. Service was attentive and friendly.

Price – 2 Course Meal, €40 for two people including wine & coffee.

Value for money – 8/10

Quality of food – 8.5/10

Contact Details

Osteria dei Cantautori

V. Angelo Probi 10

Atri 64032

Telephone: 085 8780034

No email or website

Open: Daily from 19.00-Midnight & Lunchtimes at weekends.

Author: Roddy Newlands

Roddy Newlands is an Associate Member of Life In Abruzzo, as well as antique book dealer and web and graphic designer. Abruzzo allows him to get his mountain-air fix, & satisfy his passion for pasta & panettone.