Our Story

Oriana Pirrotta opens La Cambusa in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Fatta, overlooking Piazza Marina, driven by her passion for Sicilian home cooking and a far-sighted vision. She chooses a place of great historical and cultural value that was little appreciated at the time, transforming it into a welcoming space where food feels like home.

Her son Leopoldo Tardi joins the business alongside Oriana, together with his wife Ina. La Cambusa becomes a family project shaped by the exchange of knowledge and experience, and by new challenges faced together.

Following the premature passing of Oriana, management passes to Leopoldo. It is a moment of shared mourning for the neighbourhood and for a wide, loyal clientele that, over time, had made La Cambusa a point of reference in Palermo.

On the first floor of Palazzo Fatta, Kalamarina is born: four rooms designed for those who choose Palermo and wish to experience it at a slower pace. Dining and hospitality meet in the same place, accompanying guests in discovering the city with the same care devoted to the table.

La Cambusa renews itself: its form changes, but not its essence. The trattoria evolves into a restaurant, responding to new expectations while showing an ability to grow in harmony with its own history.

Ina becomes a certified Master Gelato Maker after a specialization programme at CAST Alimenti. This milestone represents the peak of a twenty-year passion for cooking and, in particular, pastry-making. A choice that opens new perspectives and strengthens the dialogue between tradition and artisanal expertise.

Rorò opens next to La Cambusa. The dining experience is completed: alongside cannoli and cassata, the dessert menu is enriched with artisanal gelato cups in assorted seasonal flavours, organic fruit sorbets and granitas.

La Cambusa receives the recognition of Historic Shop of Palermo. An award that values a path built on resilience, experience and daily dedication, remaining faithful to Nonna Oriana’s cooking and to the high historical and cultural value of Piazza Marina. This awareness has allowed La Cambusa to remain, for over thirty years, a solid and recognised landmark in Palermo. A confirmation that resurfaces every time someone, after many years, comes back and asks for Nonna Oriana.

La Cambusa celebrates thirty-five years of activity with a video-storytelling project retracing its history, places and the people who have accompanied it over time: the family, Nonna Oriana’s cooking and the bond with Piazza Marina, together with the daily work of those who, year after year, have contributed to building this reality.