Gran Fausto
On the port since the early 1960s
A terrace on the water, the Gulf of Salò in front of you and Monte Baldo on the far shore. The same family, the same place, for more than sixty years.
A place that never moved
Gran Fausto stands where it has always stood: facing the port of Portese, in the comune of San Felice del Benaco, looking out over the Gulf of Salò.
It opened in the early 1960s and has been carried on by the same family. It is still what it was — a village restaurant on the lake, with a terrace over the water and the kind of cooking you would hope to find in a place like this.
A few steps from the water
The dining room looks onto the harbour; in summer you eat outside, with Salò to the left, the castle of Portese behind you and Monte Baldo closing the horizon.
It is why so many people come back each year at the same time, to the same table.
Lake, sea and the pizza oven
Italian and Mediterranean cooking: fish from the lake and from the sea, pasta and risotto, and pizza for evenings when you want something simple.
No pretence of haute cuisine — dishes done properly, honest portions, the flavours local people have been coming for across sixty years.
Still the same hands
Gran Fausto has never been sold on to a chain or a group. A family opened it, and a family still runs it.
It is a difference you can feel: in who greets you at the door, in who cooks, and in the fact that things change slowly here, and only when they need to.
Book a table
A WhatsApp message or a phone call is all it takes. In high season, and for a table on the terrace, it is worth booking a few days ahead.