The historic restaurant, founded in 1962 as a Tuscan trattoria and later becoming a benchmark for Milanese haute cuisine, honors the memory of its founder, Aimo Moroni, by further strengthening the dialogue between various regional traditions. This is also thanks to the intelligence and sensitivity of chefs Alessandro Negrini and Fabio Pisani.
The restaurant
2025 was an important year for Aimo and Nadia, the historic Milanese restaurant group that owns Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, a long-standing Michelin-starred restaurant that represents the continuity of the brand, Vòce in Piazza della Scala, which represents the brand's downtown salon, and Nadia BistRO, which embodies a more informal and homely concept, albeit with a high degree of elegance thanks to the collaboration with designer Rosanna Orlandi (hence the capital R and O).
It was an important year, first and foremost because of the sudden and sad news in October of the death of Aimo Moroni at the age of 91. He was the founder of the Tuscan trattoria in Via Montecuccoli, in the suburban district of Primaticcio, which in 1962 was even more eccentric than it is today. Over the years, thanks to his wife and supporter Nadia Giuntoli , he transformed a simple restaurant serving ribollita and Florentine steak into a landmark of Milanese haute cuisine, successfully navigating all the seasons and fashions that swept through Milan in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the new millennium.
But life goes on. And the memory of Aimo, to be honored every day, has given a boost to Alessandro Negrini and Fabio Pisani, the two chefs who have long since taken over the kitchen and the restaurant, continuing the tradition of a double brand ("there have always been two chefs in this place, there will be two chefs in the future" is a sort of Article 1 of the brand's constitution), who confirmed their Michelin star in the autumn guide season (but they are and remain two stars ad honorem) and made a triumphant return to the Tre Forchette (Three Forks) of Gambero Rosso's Ristoranti d'Italia guide, rising to 90 points.
Luogo di Aimo e Nadia is undoubtedly one of the most authentically Italian restaurants in our country. The very origins of the restaurant, founded by two Tuscans in Milan and now run by a chef from Valtellina (Alessandro) and one from Puglia (Fabio), represent the breeding ground for an identity that cannot be overshadowed by any local pride, even though it is clear that Lombardy's pantry is the most plundered by the two chefs for reasons of proximity. However, their cuisine is by nature a happy national mix without any hint of regionalism.
I don't think I'm wrong in saying that Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia represents, from this point of view, one of the most credible examples in terms of fine dining of what UNESCO wanted to reward by recognizing Italian cuisine as intangible cultural heritage—an honor that has been much talked about and misinterpreted, providing sometimes contradictory interpretations. A corpus of traditions, gestures, and familiar, community, and social languages in constant evolution, a symbol of incessant exchange, of a compactness of values and a natural openness to the world, rather than a repertoire of recipes and techniques which, on closer inspection, are no longer the same as they were thirty years ago.
So, hurrah for Aimo and Nadia. Hurrah for Alessandro and Fabio who, in a city as electric and fickle as Milan, swept every month by the breeze of a new fashion, hold high the banner of humanistic catering, unformatted by nature, perhaps not without errors, but precisely because stumbling blocks are always a reason for reflection and rethinking, for growth and self-awareness.
The dishes
My last visit to Via Montecuccoli was an opportunity to reconnect the threads of all these stories with a renewed eye. The welcome, managed by maître Nicola Dell'Agnolo and his deputy Andrea Fichera, is as always free of any affectation, in the spirit of a décontracté and therefore impeccable style. There are two main menus under the common claim Territori, named after the two chefs. I ask, jokingly but not too jokingly, if there is a risk that choosing Alessandro will offend Fabio or vice versa, but I soon realize that these are simply two different points of view of the same thought, two cadences of the same dialect, so it is better not to personalize too much.
The two courses both cost €260 and follow the same pattern: two starters, a vegetable intermezzo (on one side the famous Etruscan soup, on the other L'Orto di Giancarlo, which is an expressionist and variable vegetable playlist), three main courses, a pre-dessert, and a dessert. There is also a menu dedicated to Piatti del cuore (Favorite Dishes), consisting of four comforting dishes and a few seasonal itineraries (currently one dedicated to game at €315), and then the option to choose any dish from the various menus according to the formula of two dishes plus dessert at €225, three dishes plus dessert at €245, and four dishes plus dessert at €285.
My journey focused on the Territori Alessandro menu (with all due respect to Fabio) and started with a series of tastings that are an explicit tribute to the restaurant's historic dishes. Here is a Nuvola di aceto (Cloud of vinegar) with marinated purple shrimp, passion fruit sauce, and Polignano carrots. Here is a 'cover' of Aimo's Pappa al pomodoro made with toasted bread, three types of tomato pulp (ramato, datterino, and piccadilly), black olive pâté, and Vendicari basil and oregano. Then a crispy Cecina with a veil of cooked cuttlefish, a creamy cuttlefish sauce, a Bleggio walnut sauce, pistachio sauce, and marinated celery. Finally, a Parmigiano Reggiano cracker with creamy mascarpone and plum gel. Ah, there are also porcini mushroom macarons and breadsticks, standing proudly like lean soldiers.
The first real course is scampi wrapped in Colonnata lard, lightly au gratin with an almond cream base dotted with two fateful sauces: a green one with leek essence and a red one made from a scampi bisque with 'nduja, creating a virtuoso interplay between delicacy and spiciness. The dish is completed with edible herbs and flowers gathered by Elena in the Monte Barro and Monte Brianza areas.
Next comes the Riccio, with quail egg, Sila potato mousse, and Calvisius caviar. A dialogue between three eggs (the riccio itself, the quail, and the sturgeon) is exciting in itself, but is further enhanced by the plate, a sort of brown bowl created by architect and designer Giulia Valentino. Substantial details.
It is time for the Carmagnola gray rabbit, accompanied by a Luciana-style octopus sauce and served with creamy spinach, Cetara lemon gel, and Pantelleria capers. Next to it is a rabbit bombetta made with its innards browned in a pan with herbs, crepinette, and Swiss chard, and a bombolone stuffed with octopus sauce and dehydrated tomato powder. A northerner who moves—happily—to the south. There is also Giancarlo's Garden, a clip from another Pisan menu, an express tribute to the person who affectionately tends Aimo's garden in Gaggiano based on "ten-kilometer" biodiversity. Aubergine with honey, lightly blanched canasta salad, light garlic mayonnaise, marinated cucumber, string beans, snow peas, baby carrots, blackberries, strawberry granita with ginger and lemon, pistachio vinaigrette, Bleggio walnut mayonnaise.
The Etruscan soup is a must, the only dish that is common to all three A&N restaurants, albeit with some variations (but then again, Aimo used to say that if you give two chefs the same ingredients in the same quantities, you will end up with two completely different dishes). Vegetables and legumes cooked separately in earthenware without sautéing and assembled at the last minute like a great cuvée, bound together by bean cream and enlivened by wild fennel.
It's time for the main courses. They parade a Carnaroli Gran Riserva risotto with a creamy sauce of dried porcini mushrooms, creamed with creamy zucca flowers, scapece trombetta zucchini, and beetroot powder to finish; Butcher Martini's sweetbread with Santa Margherita Ligure scampi, crispy lampascione, creamy crispy carrot, and choron sauce (a dish born from Pisani's Parisian experience at Guy Martin's Grand Véfour, where he created a dish with lobster and chicken); and Miroglio pigeon in various forms: breast in the center, confit leg with pigeon livers sautéed in butter with peach sorbet, toasted brioche with dark chocolate liver quenelles, and then, later, Agnoli stuffed with the tender part of the bird and a verbena-scented pigeon consommé.
As an interlude between the savory and sweet parts of the dinner, a delicate version of Etruscan soup is served: fruit, vegetables, legumes, pomegranate, and almond milk, which serves to blend everything together. Alongside this, off the menu, is a jujube broth. The actual dessert is a creamy almond dessert with licorice ice cream, blueberry compote, yogurt mousse, and a port reduction on top.
Everything ends in glory, including this dinner, made even more compelling by the restaurant's extensive wine cellar, well managed by sommelier Alberto Piras. A special mention also goes to sous chef Carmine Coppola, who acts as an irreplaceable third wheel between the thoughts, words, works, and rare omissions of Alessandro and Fabio.
Address
Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia
Via Privata Raimondo Montecuccoli, 6, 20147 Milano MI
Phone: 02 416886
Website
