Bussana Vecchia di Sanremo

 

Food / Restaurants
(click on "Things to do" menu item to return to previous pa)ge

- Piazzetta Golosa (Bussana Vecchia) ****
 

Wonderful place at entrance of town with great food and relaxed atmosphere. Outside terrace and small inside area which is only used on the rare occasion that it rains. Our good friends, the owners Luca, Monica and Lucilla (and Gianluca and Roberta) start at around 7 to 7:30 am in the morning to serve coffee and food for locals on their way to work or dropping off the children to school. The Piazzetta closes arond 7 pm when Gianluca and Roberta are there, and around 9 pm with Luca/Monica/Lucilla. Coffee is excellent and inexpensive. They freshly bake apple cake, chocolate cake, strudel and other good stuff, as well as torta verde, piadine's, sandwiches, crepes, salads, and basically anything you'd be interested to eat for breakfast or lunch. Of course there's also beer, wine, aperitivo's, and sangria in summer, which in Liguria and Piemonte are traditionally (and always, except in tourist rip-off places) accompanied by small snacks and chips (stuzzichini). With such a wonderful and affordable place a few steps away from the house we often go straight to the Piazetta for breakfast, and also for lunch if we're too lazy to leave the village. We have several coffee makers in the house but thanks to the Piazzetta we never ever use them.

- Osteria degli Artisti (Bussana Vecchia) **
  

The oldest place in the village with a great terrace overlooking the sea. This is the place where the international artists from Bussana go for drinks, lunch, and dinner. In past few years the Osteria has been struggling to maintain its customer base because of a series of lesser cooks.The Osteria had to close in 2019 after it received a massive fine by the State for "illegal occupation" of a State property. This is weird because it was the State who purposely demolished the Osteria building in the 1950's.
With the eviction orders and illegal occupation fines countered in various legal procedures that might take many years, the Osteria was reopened in June 2021.

- La Casaccia ***
   

Restaurant in pink colors, just before the village entrance. Run by the friendly owners Francesco and David who specialize in grilled meat. They both have beards and I keep on mixing them up. At present, Francesco has the largest beard, I think. The new outside dining area overlooks the Valle Armea and the sea and is very popular for both lunches and dinner. Outside the main tourist season the Casaccia is open for lunch Thursdays to Sundays (except when the weather is poor) and for dinner on Saturdays and Sundays. They serve a a small variety of appetizers and pastas, and as main course a very tasty Angus steak, (italian) Buffalo, Rostelle, or sausages in combination with freshly grilled vegetables and potatos. These latter ones all spring from the creative mind of Francesca who invents these in her kitchen.
If you dine her, having the "panissa" appetizer is a must. In Liguria, panissa are fries made from chickpeas.
Note: In nearby Piemonte, panissa is a type of risotto made with beans.
Nice ambiance, great view, pleasant staff, with prices above the local average but still value for money.

- Ronalds Pizza Place La Barca (Bussana Vecchia) **

Dutchman Ronald arrived into town around 2007 and decided to stay. After various odd-jobs he spent a significant effort to clean up the area on the backside of Bussana Vecchia. A lot of hard labor was done to get rid of old rocks and garbage left there in the past dozens of years. He did a great job creating a Robinson Crusoe-construction out of scrap wood, something that appears to be in the blood of Dutch people.
This relaxed bar/restaurant has no license so you can take drinks yourself and donate a sum in Ronald's postbox that you consider adequate for what you got. Ronald also built a wood-oven where he creatively bakes experimental pizza's that often taste good. Visitors are encouraged to join in to make their own pizzas. Ronald cooks the things that he personally likes, which includes a delicious soup. I consider Ronald's place a nice asset to the village: a surfer's paradise on a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean.
Reception of La Barca with the residents of Bussana is one of mixed feelings. Intentions and spontaneity were admired but sometimes the booze takes its toll. Some residents would never endorse the place, but always show up when Ronald serves his free dinners.

- Stefano's Bio Restaurant (Bussana Vecchia)
Across from the main church is a bio-restaurant run by owner Stefano, who spent major efforts to create this nice medieval setting. Whereas the Osteria often focuses on modern music, Stefano prefers opera and other classical music. During high-season there regularly are live concerts. The restaurant has all the features to become very popular. Unfortunately (from my totally biased perspective) it suffers from its "bio" approach with wine and food being produced organically but not combined into attractive recipes. The restaurant is therefore often empty which is a pity for this nice medieval location. My experience has been so-so but I did hear about some (very few) people who loved it.
Update 2020: Some customers have filed complaints against the bio-restaurant so for the time being it is closed.

Harbor fish food: Solo La Lisca & Il Brigante ****
A new trend (since 2022) is for local fishermen to serve fried fish that was caught that same day. This way, they can serve customers directly without having to rely on buyers from restaurants.
Solo La Lisca ('only the scales') has been active the longest, in the old harbor of Sanremo. Last year the fisherman that we know as 'Marco Barco" (he also can take you on his boat for fishing trips at night) opened his frigetteria Il Brigante in the small harbor of Arma di Taggia. They operate daily during the tourist season (Italian tourists - few other foreigners know about it), and start deep frying the fish (sardines, shrimps, octopus, etc.) around 7 pm. People will line up by that time to make sure they can get these delicious snacks. Prices are modest. Besides the superfresh fish, the atmosphere at the places makes it a must to experience.
Hopefully, their activities will not be noted by some Tiktok influencers, because that will result in lines of hundreds of people and quadrupled prices, as happened with some special sweet snack in Amsterdam last year.
Needless to say is that they also serve wine and/or prosecco with the fish.

Solo La Lisca, Sanremo, Porto Vecchio

  

Il Brigante, Arma di Taggia

 

- Gente di Mare (Bussana Beach) ****

Located on the beach with suberb food. No menu, so no selection problem. Just get seated and wait for the food to come to you. The only risk is that you may get overwhelmed by the quantity and serving speed, but they will slow down if you ask. Gente di Mare serves a sequence of some half dozen antipasti dishes (squid, octopus, mussels, clams, sardines, etc.), one or more pastas (with fish) and a larger course which is the catch of the day. Add dessert (great pies), unlimited water and white wine (with refills), coffee and limoncello which will cost some 45 euros all included. In season they're open almost every day (perhaps not on Tuesday, I may recall) and they are packed on weekends, so reservations will be needed. You'll find their contact card in the house.

   

- Bagni Fiore (Bussana Beach) ***
  

Bagni Fiore is a beach restaurant, so only serves food from early morning until about 7 pm. On Friday and weekends they may have a dinner option (e.g. polenta and bacalau night).
It looks like a standard beach place with deckchairs, umbrellas etc, but the cooking is very good. At their sea-view restaurant owner Claudio offers a basic but good lunch menu for 17 euro including fresh home-made pasta, main course, dessert and 1/4 wine.
What makes Bagni Fiore unique is that it is open all year, so if you happen to be in town on a sunny February day you should aim for Claudio's restaurant and have lunch while enjoying a seaview that would set you back hundred-plus dollars if this would be Malibu Beach (where the sea is always ice-cold). After lunch you can take a nap in one of their deckchairs on the beach with his crusted apple-pie. Besides the special menu and a la carte selection, they serve good sandwiches/panini's.

- Napoletana ( Arma di Taggia town) ***
Located at via Cristoforo Colombo, between the main church and the sea. Napoletana's owner Mario offers superb food and one of the best pizza's you can get in Italy. Having had pizza's for over fifty years in many hundreds or restaurants from the North down to Sicily I'll challenge anyone to find me a better place. I can't say Napoletana is the best, but certainly they are in the top few percent. Mario also serves excellent antipasto Terra and/or Mare and has a good steak, serves good wine, and has a great choice of desserts, all for reasonable prices. The only reason we visited Napoletana less often in the past years is because La Bussanella in Bussana Nuova was (nearly) as good on the pizza side, had a nicer interior. Unfortunately, La Bussanella did not survive the mix of Covig-19 and 2023 cost inflation.

pizza proscuitto / funghi

- Time Cafe ***
Located on the main beach entrance at Arma di Taggia, overlooking the beach and Piazza Tiziano Chierotti (named after an unlucky young soldier from Arma who died in a bomb attack in Afghanistan).
Enjoy a glass of Vermentino, some spa and one of their rich panini's (few euro only) with the names of the months and the seasons and watch people pass by on their way to and from the beach.

panini bresaola

- Ca'Mea (Badalucco) *****


This restaurant is another must. I've met people who drove down from Milan just to have dinner at Ca'Mea. It is one of the few restaurants that specialise in mushrooms (they put them in every dish). It has no menu so once you manage to find a seat (which can be hard in summer and on weekends) you'll get a constant stream of food served. Wine and water is refilled whenever empty. You'll get about half a dozen appetizers, all containing some form of mushrooms (with fresh cheese, with steak tartare, with cooked, potato, with omelet, in quiche form etc.). Next course consists of one or more pasta dishes, sometimes simultaneous, such as tagliatelle, risotto and/or ravioli with mushrooms. At a point when you tink you've had enough they give you a choice of leg of lamb, a major piece (up to 1 kg / 2 lb) of steak fiorentina, veal and/or breaded porcini mushrooms. Next follows one or more desserts of which their "Zuppa Inglese" or "Tiramisu" is one you should experience. After that there's coffee, grappa and more grappa. Price is around 45 euro per person. Key problem with Ca'Mea is the curvy road to and from Badalucco which becomes very curvy after too much wine. To accomodate their guests from Milan and further away, owner Cristian started a small B&B. Ca'Mea has lunch and dinner. Best seating location is in the 'grotto' part of this old olive mill along the Argentina river.
Owner Cristian passed away in 2019, unfortunately. His spirit lives on in the excellent food and in the old Rolls Royce that's parked outside the restaurant. His family continues the business.
Another tragedy hit late that same year, when a major torrential rain partially destroyed their entrance bridge. It took a long time to restore, but Ca'mea has reopened in 2022.

- Jolanda 2.0 (Baiardo) *****
 

Jolanda is located in the little druid-town of Baiardo, about 50 minutes drive from Bussana. If there is one place you should try to visit while you're in Italy it is this one. Must see. Best time to eat is Sunday lunchtime. At dinnertime they serve only light meals and pizza. Good quality but not close to the Sunday lunch. Jolanda also follows the no-menu style of Gente di mare and Ca'Mea so find a table and wait to be surprised. The owner used a very old Berkel meat slicer to prepare fresh antipasti. Unique is their risotto (with mushrooms) that is prepared in a hollow Parmesan cheese. As main course they have rabbit, wild boar or other great mountain food. Also here a nice set of desserts and virtually unlimited quantities of wine and water. Price is very modest: usually in the range of 30 euro pp. Key reason we like this restaurant is its unique family setting, with many locals and some French and Italian customers. Typically not the place that tourists would go to. The hunters that provide the restaurant with the wild boar and other game often eat here as well which says enough about the quality that Massimo offers. After this very nourishing lunch you should stroll up the hill to the medieval part of town to admire the spectacular setting of the old church amidst a ring of mountains. No wonder that druids started to gather here since the 7th century.
UPDATE 2019: Massimo no longer runs the restaurant. Abramo is the new owner who continues the Jolanda tradition, including some of the original staff. No significant changes in food, with the exception that they now also serve snales in addition to the wild boar, rabbit, and pig. He serves a pleasant fresh white wine which is frizzante and only has 10.5% alcohol percentage. This allows for a more safe return by car after lunch.

- Osteria del Portico (Castelvittorio) *****

Another superb mountain restaurant with the no-menu approach. Besides the great antipasti, multiple pasta's, and traditional wild boar, porc, rabbit, and snales, they often also have very succulent goat meat. Prices are modest. The road to Castelvittorio is curvy. Less experienced drivers should use the approach via Dolceacqua and Pigna. Daredevils and motorbikes can use the tiny road leading from the entrance of Baiardo (right turn just in front of town) straight into Castelvittorio. A pleasant combination of travel and exercise is to drive into Piga and walk the donkey path (mulatteria) up to Castelvittorio. This takes about 30 minutes with a great stop at a deserted chapel halfway.

- Note on Tipping (for my American friends...)
In Italy you may typically find a 'coperta' (=cutlery) fee of a few euros per person. Service fees are unheard of unless you are at a rip-off place in Venice, Rome or other major tourist trap. Really: these are only listed because this is standard practice in the USA. There's no way an italian will accept this. They wouldn't even consider having dinner at a place that has a service charge (actually, if they do, the service fee will probably conveniently be omitted by the restaurant). If you find out in time you should refuse to pay it or leave. It is unacceptable behavior. Tipping is not done as a rule (anywhere in Western Europe), but it is customary to round-off the bill if you like the food or the service. Example: a 5 euro tip on a 95 euro bill. The Italian word is "mancia" and the staff may heartily thank you for this extra amount.
On a 2023 trip to Sienna we had dinner at the famous piazza. A major tourist trap, but nevertheless spectacular. Also here, the restaurant added a 15% service fee. We gave the waiter the choice to eliminate the service fee and receive the same amount as tip, or maintain the service fee and receive no tip. He made a wise choice.