The story of Milan’s oldest trattoria can be traced back more than three centuries. In 1722, it opened as a small inn on a country track leading to the Gentilino cemetery. Erected on its façade was a wooden shrine to the Virgin Mary, whose watchful eye was said to protect passing travellers from misfortune.
Today, the shrine is one of the last remaining traces of Porta Ticinese’s rural past. Over the centuries, the neighbourhood would grow to become one of Milan’s key industrial areas, only to be razed by bombing during World War II. Thereafter it was rebuilt as an unassuming residential area, hemmed in by the leafy Navigli canals.
As the city has risen and fallen around it, Trattoria Madonnina has remained a reassuring constant. So beloved is the restaurant that when word broke in 2023 that its owner, Fabio Locatelli, would be selling up after 30 years at the helm, panicked rumours of its impending closure spread like wildfire across Milan. Luckily, the eatery closed its doors for only ten days — enough time for the new owner, Pasquale Malafronte, to repaint the mustard-coloured walls a subtle shade of pale grey and replace the old plates and cutlery. The weight of the trattoria’s legendary past wasn’t lost on the young restaurateur, who was just 27 years old when he took the reins. ‘Locatelli told me he only wanted to sell to someone who would maintain tradition,’ he says. ‘I promised him I wouldn’t make any unnecessary changes, just refresh a few details here and there.’
Despite his relative youth, the new owner is no novice on the Milanese food scene. His family are the long-time owners of wine bar Aldilàdelvino in downtown Zona Magenta as well as a fish restaurant on the Spanish island of Formentera, which Malafronte manages when the trattoria closes for August. He kept on all of the existing kitchen staff when he took over La Madonnina and made only a few small changes to the menu. Dishes are mainly classic Lombard cuisine, with hearty servings of risotto all’ossobuco (saffron-tinted rice with tender veal shanks) and cotoletta alla milanese — breaded veal cutlets served with rocket and roast potatoes. ‘We also have our own signature cotalleta maddonina, which is made using pork and fried in butter,’ says Malafronte.
On weekday lunchtimes, the restaurant comes alive with the chatter of local workers gathering to wash down generously heaped plates of tagliatelle with a carafe of Lombard red wine. On sunny days, diners spill out into a small courtyard at the back where the inn’s former stables have been turned into a vine-shaded terrace. Backing out on to this courtyard is the childhood home of one of Italy’s most celebrated opera stars, tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. As legend has it, his talent was first discovered by diners who heard him singing from the adjoining balcony. Throughout his high-flying career, he would return to the trattoria again and again with glamorous friends in tow, famously blocking the road with his Rolls-Royce when he took Maria Callas to dine there in 1969.
From the gleaming zinc bar to the chequerboard terrazzo flooring, little has changed since the days of Di Stefano’s visits. There remains a rich mix of pictures on the walls telling the story of the city, with everything from a photograph of cyclist Michele Dancelli winning the 1970 Milan–San Remo race to 19th-century street scenes and a framed cover of newspaper Corriere della Sera announcing the outbreak of war in 1940. ‘The trattoria has an authentic spirit that’s getting harder and harder to find in Milan these days,’ says Malafronte. ‘That’s why I wanted to take it on. I think it’s important to keep our dining traditions alive.’
Trattoria Madonnina, 6 Via Gentilino, 20136 Milan (00 39 02 8940 9089)
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