Yesterday’s post was a dive into the differences between the osteria and trattoria (hint: the answer lies in the wine).

That discussion raises the question: what’s the difference between an osteria, a trattoria, and a ristorante.

In his 1953 novel Roma, Futurist poet and novelist Aldo Palazzeschi writes of the emerging “restaurant” (à la française) category in Italy’s capital (remember this is during post-war rebuilding but before the economic miracle of the 1960s): “they are osterias in name and look but not in fact. And thanks to their love of profit, each one of them is aspiring to transform itself into a restaurant, little by little.”

The word restaurant is widely believed to have first appeared in or around 1765 (in an early form) on the shop sign of a Parisian bouillon monger who offered “restoratives fit for the gods.” The term comes from the Latin restaurare meaning to restore, in the sense of restoring your vitality.

By the early decades of the 19th century, restaurant began to be used broadly in Paris and beyond (just take a look at English guide books to Paris from those years and you’ll see evidence of this).

The term first begins appearing as ristorante in Italy in the last decades of the 19th century. But its popularity would grow in the post-war era as economic recovery began to come into focus.

I think it’s safe to say that Italians would agree that the ristorante is the highest tier in the eatery category, a step up from osteria and trattoria (see my post from yesterday).

It’s also widely accepted that the ristorante is found generally in cities, although there are exceptions to that rule as well (ambitious wine country chefs sometimes call their venues ristoranti). Whether in the city or in the country, the designation has a ring of urbanity and sophistication.

The word is also often used for hotel and train station eateries, even though those venues may not achieve the level of refinement that you would expect from a stand-alone restaurant in a big city.

Thanks for being here. I hope that people find this interesting and useful!