The story
In Frascati, just outside Rome, ConTatto Ristorante offers a dining experience that is as much about place as it is about plate. Opened in May 2022 by chef Luca Ludovici and maître Lorena Cavana, the restaurant is built on a radical idea: the “kilometro sottozero” (sub-zero kilometer).
This philosophy goes beyond the typical farm-to-table model. The restaurant’s secret is a 170-meter-long natural cave, a cavity that runs beneath the dining room. Here, at a constant temperature between 12°C and 15°C, ingredients are cultivated, aged, and matured for months, in the absence of light and water. This ancient, subterranean larder is the heart of the kitchen, allowing for a cuisine that is both modern in technique and ancestral in spirit.
Chef Ludovici, a veteran of kitchens like Gualtiero Marchesi, ALMA, and Le Gavroche, crafts a menu that is a direct conversation with this unique environment. The tasting menus, such as the five-course “Evoluzioni in grotta” or the seven-course “Passato e presente,” showcase ingredients transformed by the cave’s microclimate. Dishes like the “Plin di cinghiale” (wild boar plin) with roasted chestnuts and beer zabaglione, or the “Seppia in due cotture” (cuttlefish two ways), highlight a kitchen that is technical, essential, and waste-free.
The dining room itself is a minimalist gallery, hosting rotating exhibitions of young Lazio artists that change with the seasons and the menu. The wine list, curated by Cavana and Paolo Abballe, features 150 labels, with a strong focus on Italian producers and a particular affinity for wines with pronounced acidity and minerality that echo the cave’s humidity.
This dedication to a singular, hyper-local philosophy has earned ConTatto a place in the Michelin Guide selection, a recognition of its inventive, circular approach to Italian cuisine. It is a restaurant that invites you to taste the very earth of Frascati.
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