La Buca Degli Artisti

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

The Artists' Den

The name translates literally as "the artists' den," and few restaurant names have proved so fitting. La Buca degli Artisti was founded in 1988 by Ellis and Ettore Lolli, who had a clear and specific ambition: to cook real Italian food in Copenhagen — not the Franco-Italian hybrid found at finer establishments of the era, nor the shorthand of a tourist menu. They wanted a restaurant they themselves would want to eat in.

That founding spirit is still present, quite literally. A large painting by artist Peter Carlsen hangs on the end wall of the dining room, showing Ellis and Ettore smiling out at old friends and regulars, watching over the place they built. Today, their son Guido runs La Buca, having taken the reins in 2007, supported by loyal staff and several of Ellis and Ettore's grandchildren. It is, in the most grounded sense, a family restaurant.

Regional Italian Cooking, Done with Craft

The kitchen looks to the regional dishes of Italy — rural, rooted in tradition and craft — and makes them its own. The menu spans homemade pasta, quality cuts of meat, and fish, with the philosophy that ingredients should carry the dish. Suppliers are chosen accordingly. Among the dishes the restaurant highlights: Nonna's gnocchi with spinach, langoustines with peperoncino, and La Buca's signature lamb back with rosemary.

This commitment to honest, ingredient-led Italian cooking has earned the restaurant recognition from Gambero Rosso, the authoritative Italian food and wine guide, which awarded La Buca a fork in its 2024 edition — a mark of credibility that means something when it comes from Italy's most respected gastronomic authority.

A Wine List Worth Studying

Wine is taken seriously here, to a degree the restaurant itself describes as perhaps excessive — and means as a compliment. The list is extensive by design, built around small producers where only a handful of bottles are available. Some wines sell out and don't return until the next vintage. The guiding principle is straightforward: good wine should not require paying over the odds. The sommelier is available to help navigate the list and can compose a glass pairing for each course on request. Wines by the glass are listed at the front of the wine menu.

Over more than three decades, La Buca degli Artisti has remained one of Copenhagen's most consistent addresses for traditional Italian food — unhurried, generous, and genuine.