Carlino, the oldest restaurant in São Paulo, has a menu with Italian roots

Inaugurated in 1881, when Dom Pedro 2º was still in power and eight years before the Proclamation of the Republic, the Carlino restaurant never left the center of São Paulo. Although it has already changed owners and addresses, since 2005 the house has occupied a small room on Rua Epitácio Pessoa, in Vila Buarque, today surrounded by cool places like A Casa do Porco and the Z Deli snack bar.

All the history and long time of the kitchen in operation is Achado do Carlino, which serves Italian cuisine, with roots in Tuscany.

The site was founded by Italian Carlo Cecchini, a native of the city of Lucca. The point chosen for the inauguration is where the Galeria do Rock is located, in the Largo do Paissandu. In 1949, Italian Marcello Gianni became the new owner and took the restaurant to Avenida Vieira de Carvalho, in Largo do Arouche – a time when houses like Rubaiyat and Fasano existed in the neighborhood.

Carlino came into the hands of the Marino family only in 1978, when Antonio Carlos Marino took over the administration. In 2002, another change took place. “At that time, Vieira de Carvalho declined a lot and several neighboring establishments closed. We also decided to close and look for another address”, explains the current chef at the place, Bianca Marino, who graduated in gastronomy in São Paulo and with two internships in Italy.

The search for the current address took three years. “We were closed until 2005 and, during that period, we held home events.” Before, there was only one laundry in operation. Today, it has become a route for trendy houses, as well as the Hot Pork and Sorveteria do Centro, run by chef Jefferson Rueda, which are located in front of Carlino.

“I took over the restaurant in 2018, when my father was already suffering from Alzheimer’s. He died in January of this year and, since then, my mother, my brother and I have been running the house,” says Bianca.

With an emphasis on pasta, it’s worth ordering Rigatoni al Gorgonzola and Frutti di Mare, which costs R$75 and has macaroni wrapped in gorgonzola cheese, with seafood pulled in white wine, olive oil and herbs. Another good choice is Maccheroni Ubriachi, a penne drunk with cognac and white wine, with sausage ragout and house rosé sauce, at a price of R$58.

The wine list is streamlined. “There are about ten available labels, which we change every week. We favor Italians, Chileans, Spaniards and Argentines.”