Alle Due Corti Trattoria
Tucked into a vaulted stone room on Corte dei Giugni, Alle Due Corti is the restaurant Lecce residents recommend when you ask where they actually eat. Chef Rosaria De Carlo has been cooking the same canon of Salentine peasant dishes for decades — and the menu has not needed to change.
What to Order
Start with the ciceri e tria — a dish of fried and boiled pasta ribbons with chickpeas that dates back to Arab-influenced medieval Puglia and is listed as a traditional food product by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture. It is simultaneously crunchy, creamy, and earthy in a way no other pasta dish quite manages.
Follow it with a secondo of agnello al forno (slow-roasted lamb with potatoes and rosemary) or the pitta di patate, a dense savoury pie of mashed potato, olives, onions, and capers that was historically made for feast days. Finish with a pasticciotto — the short-pastry custard tart that is Lecce's most iconic pastry — if they have one left.
The Atmosphere
The dining room is a series of low-vaulted tufa stone chambers lit by candles and bare bulbs, with hand-written menus and no background music beyond the noise of the kitchen. Tables fill fast at both lunch and dinner, and reservations are strongly advised in summer.
Prices are honest: a full three-course meal with house wine and water rarely exceeds €30 per person, which in the context of a UNESCO-listed baroque city centre is remarkable. The house Primitivo is poured from unlabelled carafes and is exactly what you want.
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