First Pasolini and Lattuada, then Mel Gibson. The most famous patrons of the Matera Renaissance all had one thing in common: their favorite place to eat. That is how Trattoria Lucana has kept and increased its popularity over the years.
This ancient family-run trattoria offers a cuisine of local products, from pezzente sausage to cardoncelli mushrooms often used in both first and second courses. As well as the bread balls (typical of Matera) or the lamb entrails rolls – delicacies that are worth a stop in this historic place.
For four generations, the Sanrocco family has held high the name of Matera cuisine in a building dating back to the 1800s. Opened in 1900, and a reference point for merchants and carriages that passed the via Lucana (the ancient via Appia) to reach Bari and Brindisi, this restaurant has been managed for 43 years by Gigi Sanrocco who has already intended his daughter as the heir of the Trattoria.
Chef Gigi Sanrocco at work (photo Facebook Trattoria Lucana – 1900)
THE CHEF’S SPECIALTY
It is said that when he was in Matera to shoot the blockbuster “The Passion”, the story of the passion of the Christ, the American actor and director Mel Gibson used to come here on his lunch break to taste succulent fettuccine served with a puree of dried broad beans, cherry tomatoes and cardoncelli mushrooms. A dish that is very popular among the people of Matera, not only among Hollywood stars.
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