VIA CASSIA

Have you ever traveled to Italy and wandered into a little Trattoria on a side street in a big city or in the center of a small village? You know the kind that has people enjoying an aperitivo outside on warm days with a couple small tables, straight forward Italian food, accessible wines, a sort of perfectly imperfect aesthetic in the dining room, friendly and engaging staff, and family owned… These small restaurants were hands down some of our favorite places to eat while living in Italy for the past 4 years and certainly part of the inspiration for Via Cassia. We are an easy spot to grab a delicious plate of pasta and a nice glass of wine and not break the bank, but also as owners who’ve brought that hidden Tuscany with them if you want to kick it up a notch, we’ll help you with that too.

The name Via Cassia (lit. 'Way of Cassius') is a historically important Roman road that ran up the center of Italy connecting Rome to Florence and up the coast to Genoa, eventually intersecting with the Via Francigena leading to the South of France. Coincidentally, it was also the road that ran right through San Casciano Val di Pesa, where we lived in Tuscany, which had a great grouping of these small restaurants that we adored and brought with us in more ways than one. Try the ‘Tre P’ pasta, a dish from a little spot called Antica Fiaschetteria in our village that we could not leave Tuscany without and added to our menu.

Via Cassia reflects Chef Gaetano Arnone’s 10 years in New York City building a career based on technique in some of the city’s prominent Italian restaurants (Babbo, Otto, and Eataly) and our time in Tuscany working with the Corsini Family at Villa Le Corti, which is together with Principe Corsini Winery.