Ballotta: Since 1605 at the Foot of the Euganean Hills, Where Galileo Ordered Wine and Orio Vergani Founded the Italian Academy of Cuisine
The oldest restaurant in the Euganean Hills—from its origins as a Franciscan convent outbuilding to a coaching inn, and finally a landmark of Euganean gastronomy.
Torreglia, Padova
Antica Trattoria Ballotta has been welcoming guests since 1605. It began as a farmstead belonging to the Augustinian friars. It later became an inn, a coaching stop and a horse-changing station. Its tables have welcomed Galileo Galilei, Casanova, Goethe, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Ugo Foscolo. The restaurant takes its name from its nineteenth-century innkeeper, Toni Carta, who was nicknamed "Ballotta" because of his sturdy build.
The date 1605 is carved into the wall, inspiring both curiosity and quiet reassurance. Few Italian restaurants can claim such a history, and almost none can document it as thoroughly as Ballotta—listed among Italy's Historic Restaurants and mentioned in chronicles and memoirs spanning four centuries.
Its story begins long before 1605. In the area now known as Torreglia—once called Corte di Toregia—the Augustinian friars of the Monastery of Mirabello owned a small farmstead with an adjoining building. When the friars sold it to a private owner, it was transformed into an inn, serving simple local dishes, wine from the surrounding hills, and shelter for pilgrims. This was in the sixteenth century. By 1605, its existence is firmly documented.
Since then, its tables have welcomed some of the most remarkable figures in Italian history. Galileo Galilei was a regular guest here on his journeys to Abano Terme. Casanova sought refuge here during his years of exile from Venice. At the time, the trattoria served as a coaching inn and horse-changing station, an essential stop on the road linking Padua with the Euganean Hills. Goethe during his Italian Journey of 1786, followed by Ugo Foscolo, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Daniele Manin. Then came Orio Vergani, the journalist and food critic who, at one of these very tables—when the restaurant was run by Toni Carta, nicknamed "Ballotta" for his generous build, from whom the restaurant takes its name—conceived the Italian Academy of Cuisine in 1953.
Today, the Legnaro family carries on this remarkable tradition. The menu celebrates the cuisine of the Euganean Hills: piccioni torresani, baccalà alla cappuccina, homemade pasta and local wines. The veranda where guests dine in summer was once the workshop where coaches were repaired. The courtyard is filled with the scent of wisteria.
Practical Information
Location: Torreglia, Padova
Duration: Lunch or Dinner
Estimated price: From €35 per person
