Trattoria Locanda Stella, Monti
Three generations of honest Gallurese cooking · since 1958

The historic facade on Via Roma 58 — Trattoria Stella has fed Monti since 1958. Photo: montistella.com

There is a moment in Sardinia, somewhere between the second glass of Vermentino and Teresa's hand-rolled Maccarrones de Ferrittu arriving at the table, when you understand exactly why we send so many of our guests inland to Monti. Trattoria Locanda Stella has been feeding this Gallurese village since 1958, and it remains, by a long margin, the most honest restaurant we know on the island.

It is not a tourist restaurant. It is the place where the people of Monti — and the Vermentino growers from the cantina down the road — actually eat. Chef Maria Teresa Chessa still runs the kitchen herself, every single day, the way her mother Peppina taught her. Her son Valerio runs the front of house: pours the wine, knows every bottle on the list, curates the jazz playing softly in the background, and finishes every meal by insisting on a complimentary glass of mirto or limoncello.

Twenty minutes from Olbia, twenty euros short of the coastal restaurants, and a different Sardinia entirely.

Why we send every guest who asks "where do locals actually eat?"

Olbia and the Costa Smeralda have many fine restaurants — and we are happy to recommend them — but when a guest asks the harder question, the one that means "take me somewhere real", we name Trattoria Stella every single time. Three reasons:

• Three generations, one kitchen. Founded in 1958 by Peppina. Taken over in 1984 by her youngest daughter Maria Teresa Chessa. Today still cooked by Teresa, with her son Valerio in the dining room. The recipes have not been "modernised" — they are exactly what Gallurese grandmothers cook when no one is watching.
• Truly km-zero. Meats, cheeses, vegetables and herbs come from small family farms in the territory of Monti. The wine list is entirely Sardinian — Vermentino di Gallura DOCG and Cannonau. Nothing imported, nothing industrial, nothing rushed.
• Locals fill the room. Inside is tiny — only a handful of tables. The front terrace adds another ten in summer, for around 60 covers in good weather (dropping to roughly 30 if it rains). On any given Saturday you will sit between a Gallurese family celebrating a baptism and a Vermentino grower whose grandfather ate at the same address. Reservations are not optional.

What to order — Teresa's signature dishes

Every pasta is rolled by hand that morning. Every dessert is made in-house. Order this:

Lunch on the front terrace at Stella — the kind of two-and-a-half-hour meal that makes you cancel everything else. Photo: montistella.com

Three stars, three sisters, one kitchen — the story since 1958

In 1958, a woman named Peppina opened a small trattoria on Via Roma in Monti and called it Trattoria Pensione Tre Stelle — three stars, one for each of her three daughters: Felicina, Pierina, and Teresa. The guests were merchants, truck drivers, and workers crossing inland Gallura on the slow road between Olbia and Sassari. Peppina cooked what she knew: hearty soups, slow-cooked stews, hand-rolled pasta. Nobody came to Monti as a tourist. They came because the road brought them — and stayed because the food made them forget they were in a hurry.

Peppina's youngest daughter, Maria Teresa Chessa, grew up in that kitchen. She did not attend culinary school. She learned the way Sardinian women have always learned: by standing next to her mother, watching her hands, and tasting until the recipes became her own. In May 1984, Teresa took over and renamed it Trattoria Locanda Stella — one star now, not three, but the same recipes and the same philosophy. Cook with what the land gives you. Never cut corners. Feed people as if they were your own family.

Nearly seventy years after Peppina opened the door, Teresa still runs the kitchen every day. Her son Valerio runs the dining room. And the bread on the table is still warm.

How to visit Trattoria Stella from Olbia

Trattoria Stella FAQ

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