The story
On the banks of the Naviglio Grande, within the Ticino Park, the small village of Cassinetta di Lugagnano still feels like a place from another time. Here, set among 18th-century villas, Antica Osteria del Ponte has found a second life. A destination for connoisseurs in the 1980s and 90s, the restaurant now thrives under Chef Patron Maurizio Gerola and his wife Laura.
The restaurant’s three intimate dining rooms overlook the canal, while a small outdoor terrace with a fountain offers a gracious alternative. With few tables per room, the atmosphere is reserved and unhurried. Chef Gerola and his team describe their cooking as contemporary, open to new ideas, but with regional roots firmly planted in the Milanese tradition. It is a cuisine where creativity expresses itself within the boundaries of classic taste. The menu is dynamic, changing constantly, always starting from tradition but employing innovative cooking techniques to highlight ingredients. Dishes like vitello tonnato, cappelletti with capon and black truffle, braised beef cheek, and a salt cod brandade—a historic dish from the restaurant’s past—return seasonally. Gerola enjoys using spices such as cardamom and sansho pepper to play with familiar flavours.
This dedication to refined, seasonal cooking has earned Antica Osteria del Ponte a selection in the MICHELIN Guide Italia 2026. The service is precise and unobtrusive, making guests feel at the centre of the experience. On Sundays, the restaurant offers a "Memoria" menu, designed to evoke the authentic tastes and family memories of a traditional Sunday lunch. For warmer months, Chef Gerola also creates a Pic-Nic Gourmet box, a sustainable takeaway of four courses to be enjoyed on the green banks of the Naviglio.
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