Locanda San Lorenzo

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Over a Century at the Table

On 7th January 1900, Osvaldo Dal Farra opened a modest osteria in Puos d'Alpago, a small town in the Belluno Dolomites halfway between Cortina and Venice. What began as a bar serving wine and spirits to workers from a nearby mill has grown, across four generations, into one of Veneto's most respected fine dining destinations. The building stands on the site of an old Post House, and that sense of deep-rooted place never left.

A Family Story, Written in Courses

The second generation — Ottavio and his wife Noris — returned from Belgium after the war and turned the osteria into a proper restaurant, keeping the food simple and homemade. The real transformation came in 1985, when the third generation took over: Renzo, having worked at La Frasca in Castorcaro and Il Bersagliere in Goito, brought a new creative ambition to the kitchen. His brother Osvaldo focused on pastry; their sister Sandra ran the front of house and the hotel; Mara, Renzo's wife, took charge of the wine cellar. By the 1990s, the restaurant was appearing in Italy's major food guides, and in 1997 it earned a Michelin Star — recognition it has held ever since.

Today the kitchen is led by Damiano, Renzo's son, who returned to the family business after working in Luxembourg and England. A brigade of ten chefs works alongside him, carrying forward what the restaurant describes as "a balance between past and present" — dishes built on deep respect for local ingredients, tradition and technique, reinterpreted with modern combinations.

The Kitchen and the Cellar

The menu at Locanda San Lorenzo moves between the flavors of the Alpago territory and more innovative directions, always with what the restaurant calls "profound respect for raw materials." The Alpago region itself is described as a land rich in gastronomic excellence, and that provenance is central to the cooking.

The wine cellar, built over decades through the passion of Renzo and Mara, now holds more than 800 labels drawn from the great names of Italian and international enology, with particular attention to emerging producers from the Belluno province. The dining room team is always on hand to suggest pairings. Gambero Rosso's 2 Forks recognition sits alongside the Michelin Star as a measure of how consistently this kitchen delivers.

Staying in Alpago

The locanda also operates a hotel, making it possible to extend the experience beyond a single meal. The logo — sketched at the end of a dinner in 1988 by artist Tobia Scarpa — tells the whole story in a single image: a grill and shooting stars for Saint Lawrence, the family's namesake; a pan for the family itself; three stars rising from it for the three siblings who shaped the restaurant's modern identity.