Sunday Lunch at Locanda di Nonna Gelsa: What to Order and When to Go

Locanda di Nonna Gelsa is one of our favourite local places—and somewhere we have returned to for more than 30 years. Just 20 minutes down the hill from Altabella, it is the kind of unpretentious, deeply rooted restaurant that makes guests feel they have found a real local secret rather than simply another place to eat.

Set in Niccone, the restaurant is well placed for a relaxed lunch after a valley walk or a slow morning at the villa. Altabella sits high above the Niccone Valley, close to the Umbria–Tuscany border, while Nonna Gelsa is in the valley below on Via Caduti di Penetola

A proper Sunday lunch

Sunday is when we most often recommend it. This is not a hurried meal between activities; it is a place to arrive hungry, settle in and let lunch become the day’s main event. The restaurant’s listed Sunday hours include lunch from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm, but booking ahead is essential—particularly for larger groups and during busy holiday weeks.

There is a straightforward warmth to Nonna Gelsa that we still love after all these years. The cooking is recognisably Umbrian: seasonal, generous and based on good local ingredients rather than elaborate presentation.

What to order

Our advice is always to ask what is especially good that day. Begin with antipasti to share, particularly if arvoltolo—Umbrian fried bread—appears on the menu. Then make room for a handmade pasta course, ideally something seasonal: truffle, porcini mushrooms, walnut sauce or a local ragù are all excellent reasons not to over-plan your order.

If you are having the full Sunday lunch, continue with grilled meat and a couple of contorni for the table. Save enough space for a homemade dessert, then finish properly with coffee and, if the afternoon is still gloriously open, a small grappa or vin santo.[yelp]

When to go

Book Nonna Gelsa for your first or second Sunday at Altabella, once everyone has settled into villa life. It is particularly good in autumn, when the countryside turns and mushroom and truffle dishes begin to appear, but we have enjoyed it in every season.

Come for the food, certainly—but also for the familiar welcome and the pleasure of eating somewhere that has remained part of our own Niccone Valley life for decades.