Osteria dalla Zabariona

About 200 metres from San Vitale, Osteria dalla Zabariona offers another way to continue a visit to Ravenna’s mosaics: through Romagna’s food memory. At 19 Via Giuliano Argentario in the pedestrian centre, Andrea Rondinelli presents it as a place that recovers recipes kept alive in family kitchens. Its website names specific ingredients—Mora Romagnola pork, squacquerone cheese, Po Delta rice and Cervia salt—and describes wines from small growers. This osteria is distinct from the similarly named Piadineria dalla Zabariona, whose listing and offer are different.

The house highlights cappelletti with Mora Romagnola ragù, passatelli in fish broth and a risotto with saba and squacquerone. Its menu follows the season, so those dishes describe the cooking rather than a guarantee of daily availability. Published diner accounts praise the welcome, pasta and interest in regional produce. Some also question the prices or size of particular portions: read the menu and ask about the day’s dishes before committing to a long lunch. This is not an improvised sandwich stop between monuments.

The osteria recommends booking, particularly at weekends, and lists lunch and dinner Monday to Saturday, with lunch only on Sunday. Its phone number can be used for reservations, and the historic centre is best approached on foot. San Vitale and Galla Placidia are close, but time inside the mosaic sites and a seated meal need separate space in the day. For travellers who want to understand Romagna after seeing Byzantine art, Zabariona works better as a deliberate part of the visit than as a hurried answer before a train.