As promised, in follow up to my last post discovering family roots in Irsina, Basilicata (Italy), this post highlights a stand out lunch at Trattoria Nugent, one of only a handful of restaurants in this small, charming town.
In short, it was everything you’d hope for in a local Italian meal. The restaurant was easy to find, welcoming, and absolutely delicious. It was also very local, and the prices pleasantly reasonable. It was exactly the kind of place that makes travel feel personal – simple, genuine, and deeply satisfying.
The group at Trattoria Nugent in Irsina, Italy. Trattoria Nugent had no issues with accommodating a group of 10!
TRATTORIA NUGENT
Trattoria Nugent is located in a picturesque courtyard of Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, Irsina’s main square. Open every day for lunch and dinner, except Tuesday, this restaurant describes itself as serving traditional Lucana dishes. We made a reservation a week in advance by having our tour guide call ahead. That being said, you can contact Trattoria Nugent via its What’s App, which information is on its Instagram page, to make a reservation. While you may not need a reservation, they are incredibly common in Italy so that restaurants can prepare an appropriate amount of food. Read – be like a local and make a resy!
Trattoria Nugent in Irsina.
This is the courtyard off Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi where it sits. There is outdoor seating in nice weather.
THE SETTING
Stepping inside Trattoria Nugent feels like you are visiting an old friend in Irsina. The actual space is set in a charming building with curved ceiling, which has clearly been around for a while. The interior is similarly decorated, with wood tables fitted with white table cloths. Old school chandeliers light the dining room, while old pots, pans, plates, and even a wood wheel decorate the space.
Trattoria Nugent.
Inside Trattoria Nugent.
THE MENU
While small, the menu at Trattoria Nugent is deliciously local. It featured handmade pasta, for an extra 2 euro, local specialities, and a selection of local meat dishes. Pasta is definitely the highlight, in my opinion. I would note that the menu was only in Italian but I could easily read it with my B1 level Italian, and we were also able to translate it well enough via Google Translate.
The first page of the menu – appetizers and pasta. Translated via Google Translate.
Meat courses and dessert. Again, translations via Google Translate.
VINO
After a long day of touring, the whole group was ready for a glass of wine. Like many restaurants in Italy, Trattoria Nugent offers both bottles of wine and house wine (“vino della casa”), which is served in a simple pitcher. We opted for house wine, which, while you may not order this in the US, is generally quite good in Italy (both in terms of taste and value). This day, the red was a local Aglianico del Vulture (there is also a house white). This is Basilicata’s version of Aglianico, which wine I like a lot. The wine was very good – we split a few pitchers amongst the table. The best part, it only cost 8 euro per pitcher. Also, the pitcher is 1 liter of wine (some restaurants offer half liters).
A pitcher of local vino at Trattoria Nugent.
PRIMO
As we were a table of 10 (our guide, Luciano, joined us for lunch!), we began our meal with the Tagliere Salumi e Formaggi. Served per “2 people”, we really wen’t entirely sure what this entailed, but it was a wood platter of a lot of local cheese, local salumi, and bread with local olive oil. This starter was well presented and insanely delicious. We could barely finish the two between the table of 10.
Tagliere Salumi e Formaggi.
The Primo course. How cool is that serving dish?
MAINS/PASTAS
The menu offers pasta, as well as several local meat dishes. Almost everyone in our group ordered pasta, as, luckily for us, Trattoria Nugent makes handmade pasta (for a small surcharge – I think like 2 euro per dish)! Very exciting. Dan and I split two pasta courses. The first was a Wild Boar Ragu, and it was incredible. Italian wild boar, or “cinghiale”, is found throughout Italy and generally delicious, and this sauce was no different. The handmade pasta was also terribly tasty.
The second pasta was also a handmade pasta, this one topped with a tomato and pesto sauce, pistachios, and Lucanian black pork cheek. Also excellent. The chopped pistachios were a tasty touch. I couldn’t pick a favorite between the two pastas. We split them half and half.
Italian wild boar ragu.
Pasta with black pork cheese and pistachio.
Another of our guests ordered the white bean and fennel dish, which was also fantastic (and a little lighter!). It was served in the cutest cookware. Beans are popular in Italy; never shy away from a bean dish in Italy!
Fagioli e finocchietto.
DOLCE E DIGESTIF
While the pasta was the highlight of the meal, we finished strong with dessert and degistives. The dessert options came out on a dessert cart, which is rather common in Italy. I opted for something that resembled a cheesecake topped with chocolate. It was good
Dolce at Trattoria Nugent!
Along with the dessert car, the chef came out to greet us and ask about our meal! He also offered us complimentary digestifs – a fennel liqueur, a limoncello type drink, and an amaro style digestif. I tried the fennel liqueur. It was tasty, strong, and most certainly homemade. In true Italian hospitality fashion, he simply left the digestives on the table for us to try as we liked.
Fennel liqueur.
We ended our meal after a quick digestif, paid the bill via credit card, and set off for some final views of beautiful Irsina. I really cannot recommend Trattoria Nugent enough. Dan still talks about the time we had wonderful pasta at 10 euro a plate in Irsina. For proof of reasonableness, here is a copy of our receipt!
Receipt from Trattoria Nugent.
STEAL OUR LUNCH
Trattoria Nugent: Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, cortile nugent 6, 75022 Irsina MT, Italy. Closed Tuesday. Open Monday and Wednesday – Saturday 12:30 – 2:30 and 7:30 – 10:30. Open for lunch only on Sunday. Credit card accepted. There is a 2 euro cover per person.