The hundred-year-old history of Burano’s Ristorante da Romano will be on display, showcasing its pre-eminence as a hub of artistic and cultural events in the twentieth century.

Around one hundred paintings from the ‘da Romano’ collection are exhibited, including works by Felice Carena, Umberto Moggioli, Gino Rossi, Mario Vellani Marchi, Filippo de Pisis, Emilio Vedova, Vittorio Basaglia, Semeghini, Dalla Zorza, Seibezzi, Novello, Guidi and Bucci.

It will also be possible to leaf through the Golden Books, the restaurant’s precious notebooks: an extraordinary collection of documents that traces the lively and inimitable profile of the art scene in Venice and beyond between the 1930s and 1970s.

Since the first decades of the twentieth century, the Ristorante da Romano on the island of Burano has been the gathering place of important Italian and international public figures.

Names of the calibre of Jeudo Epstein, Emilio Vedova and Renato Guttuso, but also Oskar Kokoschka, Joan Mirò and Ernest Hemingway, were linked to the restauranteur Romano Barbaro.

The Milanese Circolo di via Bagutta, helmed by Mario Vellani Marchi and named after the homonymous restaurant, with illustrious guests including the likes of Maria Callas, Federico Fellini and Giulietta Masina, could also be found at Da Romano.

Essentially, Trattoria da Romano is one of the most important artistic hubs in Italy and possibly Europe – a place that continues to attract famous names, artists and designers from all over the world.

For many of them, the restaurant was primarily a place to return to. On one of his many return visits, Orio Vergani called it ‘a destination worthy of us’ and Giuseppe Novello, a prisoner in Russia, re-evoked the pleasures of his beloved osteria, demonstrating both Romano’s enormous capacity to make his guests feel welcome and the warmth emanating from his restaurant.

Le Tre Stelle di Romano. Burano: The Art and History of a Restaurant that Became a Legend curated by Giandomenico Romanelli and Pascaline Vatin, celebrates the hundred years of this ‘special place’.

The exhibition is held in the spaces of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, promoting it with the Fondazione Berengo, Berengo Studio and Lineadacqua, and is open from 17 December 2021 until 6 March 2022.