A Historic Wayside Inn

The Bar Ristoro Lucarelli
a local institution since 1890 

 In the valley below Le Ripe, strung along the Strada Provinciale 2bis, lies the village of Lucarelli. The focal point of the village for decades has been the Bar Ristoro which has an interesting history. It is worth a visit just to have a coffee and see, above the counter, the old photograph of the current owner's great grandfather who founded the inn in 1890.

Amerigo Dainelli

In 1888 Amerigo Dainelli left for South America with his wife Laura, in search of a good job. They embarked from Livorno and to pay their way worked as cook and maid aboard the ship. After many days of sailing they arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay where they continued working in the same professions. However in their two years on the other side of the world their future did not look as bright as they had hoped, so they decided to return to Italy and with their savings build a house and create a living for themselves.

So Amerigo and Laura set off once again, but this time there were three of them because in the meantime the first of their seven children had been born. Once back in Italy a friend helped them because their savings were not enough for their project: to build an inn and stables for the horses that were needed to face the steep climb towards Florence where in those days the bulk of agricultural products travelled: wood, charcoal, oil and the famous Chianti wine.
 

1936

One of their sons followed in their father's footsteps with his wife Lola who had two daughters, Iolanda and Fiorella. When Lola died Iolanda helped her father with the inn. She later married Armando and had two sons, Amerigo and David. Today it is David together with Iolanda, his wife Cristina and their children Valentina and Gabriele who run this historic business which since 1890 has been offering hospitality and refreshment to travellers and tourists.

1956

 

1995

If you visit the Bar Ristoro today you may be lucky to meet Iolanda who has plenty of stories to tell about the old days, in particular about the war years and her adventures as a young girl with the partisans who sheltered in the neighbouring hills.

Nowadays the Bar Ristoro Lucarelli offers pleasant, comfortable and reasonable guest rooms as well as a trattoria with good, simple fare and their historic bar, populated just as much by locals as by tourists and passersby

To find out more about the Bar Ristoro, look here.

the Bar Ristoro today their pleasant new outdoor eating gazebo