Kairòs Kafè is the closest to La Malcontenta e il Lupo, about 2 km, it is in the Hamlet called Izzalini (gravel road).
This is the right place to stay in the context of La Malcontenta e il Lupo, if only because it is located just above the woods that surround it. Woods of roe deer, wolves, badgers, martens, and much more. You get there by a gravel road that runs through the woods. If you feel up to it, you could go by foot, “if you feel up to it” because the road is uphill, not because of anything else. Certainly the descent, after eating, will be very consoling.
The place is tiny, but very cosy, warm, even in the emotional sense. Everyone is very friendly. The restaurant overlooks the main street of Izzalini. A little further on you will also find the Scoppola Cardoni bakery, an excellent bakery that makes bread, cakes and pizzas, and also the “torchietto”, a cheese-rolled loaf. So you can buy yourself something for breakfast or a snack. Some of these products you will also find at Kairòs Kafè restaurant, which very rightly offers them to its guests. Back to us, at Kairòs Kafè you eat well and you stay well.
A gem: rum and chocolate.
https://www.instagram.com/kairoskafe/?hl=en
Trattoria Cibocchi is about 4,5 km from La Malcontenta e il Lupo, its very typical and rustic, a place to meet "real Umbria".
One descends to the valley floor. Along the road to Todi is this “casolare”, an authentic country house, renovated but still reminiscent of Umbria. There is a bridge and a watercourse flowing just below, the Naia, which after a not too long way flows into the Tiber, and then you arrive at the sea, at Ostia, after quite a bit of running through gorges and valleys. But let's not digress, we are in one of the oldest trattorias in the area, here you also come for the atmosphere. The locals are never lacking, and you could meet anyone from hunters to painters. The dishes, flavours and smells are typical, of those who lived here long ago. Originally there was also dancing, "The shore of fascination". Now there is no dancing, but the fascination is all there. Don't forget to get the “schiacciatine” in the starter, the “rustic” pizza, as it used to be made, is no longer to be found. All this is already more than enough to book a table.
https://www.trattoriacibocchi.it
Always in Todi there is Pane e Vino, a restaurant near the centre (a Slow Food restaurant).
Just before reaching the top of the hill in Todi, going up, on the right-hand side of Via Ciuffelli, more or less halfway up, we find Pane e Vino. The setting is very nice and cosy. Stone walls and a small staircase leading up to a mezzanine overlooking the room below. There is something pleasantly theatrical about it. Tasty, genuine cooking, traditional dishes that you don't often find. Good ingredients and real truffles. There is no truffle oil, so often used even in unsuspected places. The real truffle does not have a taste that breaks your stomach, it is delicate, sometimes barely noticeable, at other times it makes itself felt a little more, but when it tastes too much, something is wrong, and nature has nothing to do with it. The real truffle, it must be listened to, savoured, understood, tasted carefully, welcomed into the mouth with every single papilla. It is not just a food, it is a mystery, it is pure pleasure. But even here I digress, at Pane e Vino there are many things that have nothing to do with truffles, but that despite this, must be tried. It is a pleasure to sit down and eat at Pane e Vino.
For a Michelin restaurant there is Gregorio, near Orvieto, Morrano Nuovo, a very good place.
There are not many words to describe Da Gregorio. It is a wonderful surprise, in an almost mountainous area (practically on Monte Peglia, one of the most beautiful places in Umbria), where hardly anyone lives, but at the same time not far from Orvieto, and in the same environmental context as La Malcontenta e il Lupo. But this is little. Da Gregorio is not just a Michelin restaurant, it is better than a Michelin restaurant. It is cuisine of an exceptional level, with splendid raw materials (needless to say, the truffle here is real). Everyone is very friendly as well as extremely professional. Here even the desserts are special, and it is difficult to find a restaurant where everything is special, from savoury to sweet. It is one of the best places I have eaten in my life.
Address: SP101, 136/137, 05018 Morrano Nuovo TR
Telephone: 0763 215011
A true mountain restaurant can be found on Monte di Massa, it is the Rifugio San Gaspare.
Almost on top of Monte di Massa is the Rifugio San Gaspare restaurant, about 30 km from La Malcontenta e il Lupo. A nice walk leads to another restaurant “that has always existed”, another Umbrian landmark. You can arrive there either by taking a slightly longer but paved road, or by taking a gravel road through Massa Martana.
San Gaspare has exactly the features of a refuge, and indeed it is a pleasure to take refuge here. At the entrance, the huge fireplace will warm you with its flame and view, and meanwhile you will see cooking over the embers. Here there is a pizza “sotto al foco” that brings tears to the eyes for its goodness. The “pizza sotto al foco” is typical, if you come to Umbria you must eat it, and I assure you that it will not be just a duty, but a pure pleasure. At San Gaspare they tell you the menu by voice, don't expect to read it on the paper, it has never happened, and I hope it never will. The speech will not be long, the recipes have been the same for decades, and those must remain. A starter you won't forget, two three first courses (good truffles), and two three second courses. Enough to go there again and again.
Address: Località Monti Martani, 06030 Giano Dell'Umbria PG
Telephone: 0742 90189
Semiramide, the restaurant which is located on one of the ridges of the hills that can be seen from La Malcontenta and Il Lupo, and is about 15 km from here.
Going up in the direction of Izzalini, and passing through the high hills, we cross another splendid area of Umbria, in a succession of woods that lead to Melezzole, a very pretty village on the slopes of Monte Croce di Serra. Here, the Semiramide restaurant welcomes us with all its excellent dishes. Recipes cooked with care, with extreme regard for ingredients and quality, with truffles always first choice and great love for what is prepared. Even the bread is made by them, and what bread! This structure is also a bit reminiscent of a mountain hut, and in one of the rooms, a crag of rock juts out between the tables, a perfect union between man's construction and that of nature. Even the desserts are delicious, refined sweets, perfectly in line with a traditional, good, and elegant cuisine. Even John, when he comes to me, can't wait to go to Semiramide. Who is John? One of my closest friends. And Semiramide, one of my favourite places.
https://www.ristorantesemiramide.it
La Posta, in Avigliano Umbro, a place to eat a “high” pizza in every sense, from thickness to quality.
If you prefer to eat pizza, therefore, the best place to go is La Posta, in Avigliano Umbro. It is about 20 km from La Malcontenta e Il Lupo. The dough is excellent, not a problem. Top quality local ingredients are used: from the flours to the toppings. It is not a pizza as you would expect, it is not “traditional”, round, it is neither Neapolitan nor Roman style, it is a special style, very good. It is tall, rectangular, it looks more, to the eye, like an oven pizza, but on top there is a restaurant plate. They are seasoned with care, and each flavour binds and rests on a crispy, soft base. The timing is sometimes a bit long, but it is the time for the good stuff. Time to live and talk, time to spend, for example, with a best friend.
https://www.ristorantelaposta.net
36 minutes, about 44 km, yes I know, a bit of a long distance from La Malcontenta e il Lupo, but if you are in Umbria, in the end, why not go there? With us, distances don't matter, we move from town to town as if they were all connected in one big “Umbrian town”. The outskirts? They don't exist, we are all the connective tissue. And so, here is a review of a very good Osteria, La Pecora Nera in San Gemini (Tr).
We are in front of a restaurant that is a small piece of art, where everything is in the right place, naturally including the dishes served: La Pecora Nera. In San Gemini, in a stone and brick room with barrel vaults, overflowing with objects that evoke an imagery of music and real life. A long, narrow room, a few tables, very well presented. Well-prepared and tasty recipes, excellent wine selection and the truffle, when available, is worth the effort. They even have the flair to present truffle species that are not known to the wider public, but are nevertheless valid and deserve their own space. As a matter of fact, there is not only Tuber aestivum, Tuber melanosporum or Tuber magnatum, there is also more... And the people who work there are extremely kind and professional, and the owner, moreover, is an experienced in music and a musician himself, which, believe me, does nothing but good to the eating.
https://www.instagram.com/lapecoranera.sangemini
The largest supermarket is Emi, found in Ponterio (just outside Todi).
Having said that, I recommend Conad City in Pian di Porto, just a little further on from Ponterio. It is a small Conad, still reminiscent of a “bottega” (small shop), but at the same time it has a great deal of things, sometimes even refined, things that you won't find at Emi anyway. For those who like atmosphere, as well as good things to eat (which you will find at Conad City), this is the right place. You will also find excellent wine, red and white, Musikè. Definitely worth buying.
https://www.conad.it/ricerca-negozi/conad-city-localita-pian-di-porto-snc-06059-todi--000063