Trattoria with Bolognese cuisine specialties in Bologna
Trattoria Leonida offers a rich menu that has its roots in the best Italian culinary tradition and Emilian Bolognese cuisine. In addition to first courses based on fresh pasta rolled out with a rolling pin, we offer tasty meat dishes of pheasant, hare and wild boar accompanied by excellent side dishes based on seasonal mushrooms and truffles.
All this is accompanied by a wide selection of wines among the best national labels.
We also prepare gluten-free and vegetarian dishes every day.
If you are looking for a trattoria with Bolognese cuisine specialties in Bologna, come and visit us!
Antipasti
At our trattoria specializing in Bolognese cuisine in the center of Bologna, you can find crescentine as an appetizer, a delicious traditional dish, known elsewhere as "gnocco fritto".
Alongside the artisanal tigelline, there is a selection of local cured meats: felino salami, dried sausage, cracklings, mortadella Bologna Alcisa , Parma ham DOP, head ham.
First courses
Lasagna
It is one of the most famous Emilian dishes in the world, made with fresh hand-rolled pasta and Bolognese ragù, already known in the late Middle Ages as evidenced by documents dating back to 1282, where lasagna is described as having a shape similar to that of fried gnocco. It was only in the nineteenth century that it took on the shape that characterizes it today.
Noodles
At our trattoria we offer a Bolognese specialty appreciated in Bologna and throughout the world: tagliatelle.
It is said that they were invented by the chef Zafirano at the court of Giovanni II Bentivoglio to pay homage to Lucrezia Borgia who was visiting the city, inspired by the woman's blond hair.
Once upon a time, they were also prepared by farmers for celebrations.
The first modern version of tagliatelle is described in the “Domestic Vocabulary” of 1859 by Giacinto Carena.
In the Bolognese area they are also prepared in a sweet version, fried and sweetened with sugar, or in the form of a cake, a variety that is difficult to find today. In menus around the world, tagliatelle with ragù are confused with spaghetti, in fact spaghetti with ragù are called spaghetti alla bolognese.
Tortellini
It is said that tortellini were created by the innkeeper of the Corona inn in Castelfranco Emilia who, in the thirteenth century, hosted a charming young marquise and, spying on her through the keyhole, was struck by the shape of her navel, so much so that he decided to give a new shape to his pasta.
However, the credit for the creation of this pasta is disputed between the cities of Bologna and Modena.
Second courses
At our Leonida restaurant we also prepare meatballs, another typical Bolognese specialty much loved in Bologna, using minced veal and pork, with the addition of mortadella, raw ham and parmesan. We serve them fried, while they are still very hot.
This dish, present in cuisines all over the world, probably originated in Persia and, in any case, each country has its own version.
In Bologna they were born with the aim of reusing leftover meat from roasts and boiled meats.
Bolognese cutlet
The recipe for cotoletta alla bolognese, registered in 2004 by the Italian Academy of Cuisine at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna, involves the use of broth to soften the veal or chicken, fried in lard, then covered with ham and parmesan and baked in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese.
Sweets
Our restaurant could not miss the Bolognese specialty so loved in Bologna: the rice cake, whose official name is "torta degli addobbi".
This traditional Bolognese dessert was created to celebrate the parish festival of Addobbi, so called because of the colored drapes that were hung from the windows during the Corpus Domini procession.
The original recipe was registered in 2005 at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce, but each family makes its own version.
