Tramonti, Barcelona’s first Italian restaurant, is looking for a new owner.

BarcelonaBarcelona’s Tramonti restaurant (Av. Diagonal, 501), opened in 1980 and considered the city’s first Italian restaurant, is looking for a new owner. The restaurant is currently being transferred, although there is no sign indicating this, nor is it closed, as Giuliano Lombardo’s wife claims. It is operating as usual, but Giuliano Lombardo (75) is not in the dining room these days due to illness. Sadly, his brother, Franco Lombardo, the restaurant’s chef, passed away last April.

The Lombardo brothers arrived in Barcelona in 1973, and together they worked at the pub-restaurant Sausolito, where comedian Eugenio performed. “It was wonderful, because we served pizzas and pasta dishes, and if you walked through one door or another, it became a pub or a restaurant,” recalled Giuliano Lombardo. Over the years, they transferred his business, and the two brothers remained in the premises on Avenida Diagonal, which they named Tramonti. “I’ve always worked as a waiter; my brother as a cook, and from day one, we attracted Italians, because at that time there was a large concentration of Italians in Barcelona,” says Giuliano, who believes there are not as many Italians in Barcelona these days. He explains that they don’t receive Italian tourists either, “because they don’t go as far as Diagonal.” “Diagonal is not what it used to be, when the bars and restaurants were doing well; now hardly anyone passes through, and that’s why we have rest days on Saturdays and Sundays,” explains Giuliano. In fact, he insists that Diagonal empties especially on weekends: “Locals tell me they go to Castelldefels, Sitges… to the towns with beaches.”

Giuliano Lombardo, who has lived in Catalonia for fifty years, has two children, but, he says, neither of them wants to dedicate themselves to this profession. He has kept his retirement active by spending a few hours during service, as has his sister, with whom he also works in the dining room, which is perhaps one of the most concentrated in artwork. “The artist Jaume Plensa wrote the menu for us, and in return, we dedicated a dish to him that bears his name.” It’s a light pasta dish that Plensa himself enjoys eating. The dish has been on the menu for fifteen years, and it’s never been changed.

Because of its connection to art, Tramonti (named after the brothers’ home region of Liguria) is a welcoming establishment steeped in history. Artists who have stayed there have left paintings and signed the restaurant’s guest books, and the owners have always shared anecdotes about their visits. “One day, the American creator of Pink Panther came, and Antoni Tàpies also came for lunch, which is why we also have paintings by him.”

A pioneering Italian restaurant

Tramonti has twenty-three tables and a capacity for sixty-five people, and is currently considered a legendary restaurant because in its origins, in the early 1980s, “there were no Italian restaurants in Barcelona, nor was it easy to buy Italian products because imports were subject to quotas,” says Giuliano.

Regarding the current Italian restaurants in Barcelona, ​​the owner claims to be unfamiliar with them. We asked him about Lombo, by chef Eugeni de Diego, one of the most prestigious Italians, and also by the Colombo brothers’ restaurants, but he says no. “I don’t know them, no, even though they tell me Barcelona is one of the cities with the most Italians, but I always think they’re people with Italian surnames who are actually Argentinian,” he comments.

Finally, Giuliano shares his favorite dishes: tiramisu, of course, giant macaroni, and linguine al pesto, a dish from his home region, Liguria. And, to drink, Lambrusco Remigio Rosso Secco, which is listed on the menu at 26 euros. He says he liked it from the first day he put it on the menu. “A wine with a different fizz than theirs,” and adds that it was also “the first” to be brought to Barcelona. “Back then, Lambrusco wasn’t available in any restaurant in Barcelona.” A pioneering restaurant now looking for a new owner to usher in a new era of history.