Il Luogo Aimo e Nadia – Milan's trattoria that became a stage

In the quiet grid of Primaticcio, south-west of central Milan, a converted neighbourhood bar called Stella became, in 1962, a trattoria run by two young Tuscans, Aimo Moroni and Nadia Giuntoli. The sign over the door changed as their ambition grew — Bar Trattoria da Aimo, then Da Aimo Trattoria Toscana, Ristorante Aimo e Nadia in 1987 — before the name that still lights the façade today, Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia, arrived in 1998. Aimo Moroni died in Milan in October 2025, aged 91, having spent a lifetime turning a suburban dining room without asphalt on the street outside into one of the reference points of Italian gastronomy. Today the house is run by the founders' daughter, Stefania Moroni, with chefs Alessandro Negrini and Fabio Pisani in the kitchen, continuing a project whose own telling of its history begins in 1962 and has not stopped evolving since. It holds One MICHELIN Star.

01The room and the setting

The dining rooms sit behind an unassuming façade on Via Privata Raimondo Montecuccoli, but the interiors were reworked as an architecture and design project rather than a simple refit, carried out by Fontana Architetti with Studio Vudafieri-Saverino Partners for the interiors. Where the garden once stood, a new volume now houses the Theatrum dei Sapori, a research-and-development space with an open kitchen and two large solid cedar-wood tables for guests.

The restaurant describes its interiors as minimalist, set off by fine details of the best Italian design since the 1950s, a fusion of contemporary line and historical reference that the house considers central to its character. The result, as Relais & Chateaux notes of the property, is a setting built around an artistic and architectural project in which performance, cuisine and fine art meet at the table.

02The chefs

Alessandro Negrini, from Lombardy, and Fabio Pisani, from Puglia, took over the stoves at the turn of the new millennium, when Aimo and Nadia began looking for someone to carry the project forward. The two chefs are described on the restaurant's own site as the successors of an approach that first took shape in 1962 and that still continues to evolve today, guided by respect for Italian culinary heritage and a constant search for new direction from solid, current roots.

Insider tip

Open Monday–Saturday evenings, closed Sunday; book the Chef's Table three days ahead.

Their partnership has been built on complementary backgrounds and a shared method: both chefs insist that working as a pair, rather than alone, is what has let them pursue one unified vision of the kitchen with trust and mutual respect. In the dining room, the service is led by maître Nicola Dell'Agnolo, while sommelier Alberto Piras oversees the cellar.

03The cooking

The kitchen's working method is called Territori: a way of putting the raw ingredient, the producer behind it and the story it carries at the centre of every dish, rediscovering Italian excellence region by region. From this comes a split tasting route — I Territori di Alessandro and I Territori di Fabio — each built as a personal reading of the Italian peninsula by one of the two chefs, alongside a standing list of 'Piatti del Cuore', dishes drawn from Aimo's own kitchen that the current chefs have chosen to keep on the menu.

Running alongside the tasting menus, a Chef's Table Territori takes place inside the Theatrum dei Sapori: a reserved experience for groups of two to six guests, where Negrini and Pisani cook in front of diners and talk through the producers and choices behind the Territori project as they go.

04What to order

I Territori di Alessandro follows lightly spiced scampo from Santa Margherita with Colonnata lard and almond, through stuffed grey rabbit from Carmagnola with Pantelleria capers, into a risotto of Gran Riserva Carnaroli with courgette flowers and dried Abetone porcini, a tortelli of Fassona ossobuco scented with Sardinian saffron and 30-month Parmigiano, and squab from Miroglio cooked nel lavec, finishing with a chestnut-flour neccio.

I Territori di Fabio opens with sea urchin and quail egg over Sila potato and Calvisano caviar, moves through smoked Lomellina duck with pomegranate and Valtellina apple, an Etruscan soup, Saragolla-wheat spaghettoni with Polignano a Mare cuttlefish, and rosemary sweetbread with crustaceans and cardamom-roasted carrot, closing with a sunflower-honey dessert. Among the Piatti del Cuore, the hard-wheat spaghettoni with fresh spring onion, chilli, oil and Ligurian basil remains the historic signature dish of founder Aimo.

05Wine and drinks

The cellar is the work of sommelier Alberto Piras, who has built the list over ten years of collaboration with the house; it leans toward Italian labels, with a strong showing of French bottles and selections from across European wine country. Aperitif options on the current list include Franciacorta Extra Brut Riserva Franco Ziliani 2011 from Berlucchi, Trento DOC Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore 2015, and Laurent-Perrier's Brut Millésimé 2018.

06When to go and booking

In October 2026 the restaurant was open Monday to Saturday from 19:00 to 22:30, closed on Sundays, with guarded parking a five-minute walk away on Via Legioni Romane, open around the clock. The two Territori tasting menus are priced at €260 per person for the whole table, with a Menu Tartufo at €210 and the option to add fresh white truffle by the gram when it is in season; à la carte runs from two courses plus dessert upward. The Chef's Table Territori, limited to two to six guests inside the Theatrum dei Sapori, is priced at €450 per person and must be booked at least three days ahead.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.