Restaurant: Dinner at Trattoria Vinha in Matino
- Where family, flavour, and Salento’s simplest joys come together
A trattoria that feels like coming home
There are places in Salento where you go to eat — and then there are places like Trattoria Vinha, where you go because you feel part of something.
Located in the centre of Matino, just a short drive from Parabita and Palazzo Piccinno, Vinha has become one of our most cherished rituals. Not only because the food is good — though it is — but because of the people behind it.
Valentina and her family welcomed us long before we ever called Salento home. Over time, they became part of our family — the kind you choose, the ones who greet you with flour on their hands and a smile that feels like a warm place to land after a long day.
In a region full of restaurants, Vinha stands out for one simple reason: everything is honest. Honest food, honest hospitality, honest atmosphere.
The food — Simple, generous, deeply Salentino
The heart of Vinha is its kitchen: familiar, nourishing, and guided by tradition rather than trend. This is the kind of trattoria where dishes don’t need explanations — they speak for themselves.
The Antipasto Misto
Start with the antipasto misto, which is less of a starter and more of a feast. Small plates keep arriving: vegetables from the season, cheeses, little bites fried or marinated, local flavours that carry the warmth of home cooking. It’s the type of meal opener that slows you down, draws you in, and reminds you why trattorie matter.
Fresh pasta
Always the right choice. Vinha’s fresh pasta dishes are a must.
Every plate comes with that handmade texture that only happens when someone has been making pasta for decades, following recipes passed through hands rather than books.
Our favourite? The sausage pasta. A dish that tastes like the countryside around us: rich, comforting, a little rustic, perfectly seasoned, and full of personality.
If you come with friends, order different pastas and share. It’s the best way to understand the rhythm of this kitchen.
House wine — light, familiar, and perfect
Their house wine deserves its own mention. It’s the kind of wine you only get in small trattorie — light enough to drink happily, good enough to order twice, and familiar enough to feel like something you’ve known forever.
It pairs beautifully with everything on the menu, especially the antipasto and the fresh pasta.
The atmosphere — Familiar, easy-going, unmistakably Southern
Trattoria Vinha has the kind of atmosphere that only places run by real families can create: informal, warm, a little noisy in the best way. The room feels relaxed, unpretentious, and lived in — never staged, never trying too hard.
This is the Salento that we love: people who care more about your experience than your reservation time, food that comes from tradition rather than performance, and an atmosphere that invites you to stay a little longer than planned.
Why we return
For us, Vinha is not simply a recommendation — it’s part of our life in Salento. We return because we love Valentina and her family — because they treat us like old friends, because they ask about our lives, because they always say “stay a bit longer” as if time didn’t matter.
We return because the food is real — generous, comforting, cooked with hands that have known these recipes forever. We return because a dinner here feels like belonging. It reminds us of why we chose this land.
It reminds us of all the rituals that make life in the South feel fuller, slower, sweeter.
It’s the place we recommend to anyone who wants to experience Salento not as a visitor, but as someone being welcomed to the table.
Practical Info — Trattoria Vinha, Matino
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Location: Matino, Puglia — a 10-minute drive from Palazzo Piccinno
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What to order: Antipasto misto, fresh pasta dishes (sausage pasta is a favourite), house wine
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Atmosphere: Casual, friendly, traditional
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Perfect for: Long dinners, local flavours, family-style meals, groups
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Booking: We are happy to help guests reserve a table
The photographs in this story were captured by our dear friends Anja and Sandro from WeAreOyster — whose eye for quiet beauty mirrors the way we experience Salento.
Vita a Palazzo