La Cuccagna: Where eating is a feast

The Marsella family’s trattoria La Cuccagna is an historic location near Taranto where you can savor authentic Puglia cuisine.

Crispiano is a town with a hundred farms set in the Mediterranean shrub land between the Itria Valley and the Murgia plateau. The Marsella family’s La Cuccagna restaurant here is an historic spot that has been singled out by the Slow Food guide and as a Bib Gourmand in the Michelin Guide. It was once one of the many butcher shops with a kitchen but today is a modern trattoria, an ideal place to step back in time and savor the flavors of authentic Puglia cuisine prepared with the best local ingredients with an excellent quality/price ratio.

It was back in 1984 when osteopath Gianni Marsella, his psychologist wife Paola Ortesta and Rosanna Marsella, who held a degree in statistics, decided to leave their respective positions and together take over their family restaurant pumping in new energies and ideas. Tradition remains the undisputed focus of attention, with an eye on creativity, and the portions are abundant making each meal a feast for food lovers. More than buying from local producers, the family grows much of its own prime ingredients, thanks to father Martino, with the rest preferably coming from neighbors. Cooking duties are in the hands of Paola, her mother-in-law Livia and the sous chef Pasquale La Neve. The menu is exclusively “turf” and seasonal. “The food has to move me and move others. Mine is a simple and flavorful cuisine that does not skimp on seasonings,” Paola Ortesta explains, “This past season we had a lot of tourists, especially French, who had to make a point of coming out to us since we are not on the beaten tourism path”.

The welcoming treat is composed of ricotta forte cheese with a small baked tomato and a trickle of honey. The starter cold cuts vary from capocolla to hot and mild salami, sliced and rolled pork belly, while the cheese offerings are both sheep and goat from select local producers. The first courses are exquisite, orecchiette pasta with a sauce of Susumaniello beef pot roast; caciocavallo cheese fondue with toast; homemade trocolli thick spaghetti with small tomatoes, fresh bacon and Zollino legumes; rigatelli pasta from Del Duca in Parabita with candied tomatoes, stracciatella cheese and burnt eggplant purée with fresh basil.

Among the second courses is the classic mixed grill of rolled and punta di coltello sausage, three varieties if bombetta meat rolls, pork and lamb chops; or, as an alternative, breaded and fried capocollo with a salad of friggitelli peppers and caciocavallo shavings; typical chops in sauce; and veal jowl stewed in Negroamaro wine with potato purée. Rosanna is responsible for desserts and pastry and do not pass up the fig crumble with almond ice cream with rum or the basket of almond brittle with San Marzano ice cream with raisins.

Floor and customer service had always been the responsibility of Gianni, an unforgettable host and sommelier who, unfortunately, passed away not long ago. He was a perfect host and great wine expert and lover, especially of small, local producers. You could spend hours with him talking about these wines of which there were over 500 on the wine list. Rosanna now reigns over the floor with the help of the young Andrea Pentassuglia.