Osteria della Strega In San giovanni in marignano

07/09/2025: And it's always her, one of the best in this part of Romagna, home-made food, a relaxed atmosphere, very fair prices.

30/08/2025: This review is actually the culmination of dozens of lunches and dinners prepared at Franciosi over the course of over 40 years, from Easter Monday lunches with my relatives from Viserba, to those with friends on vacation, to those enjoyed in recent years with my wife and daughters. The great thing is that in 40 years, the quality hasn't changed, from generation to generation. For us Milanese, first courses are obviously the order of the day, and very often our dinners have consisted of large platters of pasta dishes and broth. But sometimes we've limited ourselves to the first courses to enjoy the excellent grilled meats, especially the mutton, which isn't common here. All good, all honest, all familiar. The only time I remember having any problems was about twenty years ago due to a mistake I made while managing the order for a group of penniless friends with whom I was returning from a vacation. Instead of trusting the host as I had always done—and as I SHOULD—I made a strange request, telling him our limited budget, which meant we had to stay within it, and we ended up eating so-so, obviously spending very little. Nothing could be more wrong. If you're in a group, you have to sit down, order nice platters of first courses, the house wine, and then second courses with sides to round things off, and the final bill will always be surprising, even if you order dessert. Franciosi remains one of my absolute references because it takes me back to my childhood and because it has managed to preserve the very essence of the popular Romagna trattoria restaurant, unlike other places that have watered down or sold out to a false sense of progress. May God preserve them for a long time.