Started as a family business, the whole family still works in the restaurant, with the sons gradually taking over part of the work in the kitchen and the pizza oven. They learned the craft and the ingredients in Italy, where they worked in various osterias for many years and memorized every subtlety of their delicious and nutritious cuisine. They remember that when they opened in 2006, only they and Lino's restaurant offered authentic Italian recipes in the city under the hills. Today, although there are a number of other establishments on the culinary scene in Plovdiv, Picantino still remains a benchmark for quality and unchanged taste.

One of the stars of the menu is undoubtedly the pizza, and here it is baked in an oven and made with a sourdough that rises for about 24-26 hours before processing.

Even recently, a colleague of theirs requested their recipe for his establishment in the country. More than 90% of the ingredients are sourced from Italy, and the recipes are borrowed from their work in the very kingdom of mozzarella - Foggia, Southern Italy. Picantino is the only place in Bulgaria where they also prepare a unique pizza on a roll, the recipe of which is believed to have been tried for the first time by an Italian emigrant in Philadelphia, USA. It's similar to the calzone, but is wrapped and sealed differently. Most of the sauces are made on-site, and for people on a diet there is also an option for pizza with whole-wheat dough.

Their idea is for you to be sure that what you eat will be as close as possible to the specialty that will be served to you in an authentic place outside of all the tourist traps in Italy.

Another thing you shouldn't miss at Picantino are their bread rolls, which often make us stop counting calories and give in to temptation. A must-try is their Neapolitan bread, which is made upon request. In Italy it is called pane cafone, as cafone means rustic, crispy. Its interior is so fluffy and airy that a person can hardly resist it. It can be supplemented with various spices, herbs, nuts or mushrooms.

The restaurant's mission is quite simple: to offer mouth-watering food to ensure that their guests will return again and again. The truth is that they have been successful for 17 years and it is worth leaving the most central city streets to immerse yourself in their peaceful place, not far from the Main Street, but retaining its spirit and tranquility, as well as its taste!