Osteria degli Angeli

Osteria degli Angeli sits on Via delle Volte, the medieval passage that connects the old commercial district to the waterfront, where shops and warehouses were once linked by a continuous covered walkway to keep merchants dry. The street is one of the most evocative in Ferrara; the osteria, in a vaulted space that dates from the fourteenth century, is among the most atmospheric rooms in Emilia-Romagna.

The kitchen specialises in dishes drawn from the archives of the Este court — Ferrara's Renaissance dukes maintained some of the most sophisticated kitchens in Europe, and the tradition filters down into the osteria's menu. Pampepato as an amuse-bouche; pasticcio di maccheroni with its extraordinary sweet-savoury filling; a salama da sugo that has been prepared according to a recipe that is genuinely centuries old.

The wine selection emphasises local production: Fortana del Taro, Lambrusco di Sorbara, the white Trebbiano that accompanies lighter dishes. The staff are knowledgeable and unhurried. A proposal dinner in these candlelit vaults, surrounded by the weight of eight hundred years of culinary history, requires no further enhancement.

The medieval vaulted setting is among the most romantic dining environments in northern Italy. A proposal here is insulated on all sides by atmosphere — the food, the architecture and the candlelight all doing the work simultaneously.