Our history

Using the freshest ingredients, Romina Lamassa expresses her pride in the cuisine of her native Italy through her dishes. At Lamassa, we make this return to our origins a reality through a true gastronomic experience of the most fascinating Italian flavors.

Be part of this journey!

a nossa história
Romina Lamassa

Romina Lamassa, the soul of our house

Romina Lamassa was born in Altamura, in the Puglia region. Of this fertile territory, rich in wheat fields, vineyards and olive groves, he only has memories of his maternal grandparents’ stories, because he settled with his family in the Campania region of southern Italy at an early age.

His childhood and adolescence were spent in the province of Salerno, in the mountainous area of Cilento, a World Heritage landscape and the land of his father from whom he inherited the name Lamassa (yes, it really is his surname and not a pun on the name of his restaurant). He grew up watching his mother Margherita and grandmother Domenica make their own pasta, which they wanted to be “al dente”! And he has very vivid memories of the women of his land, around a large wooden table, preparing and selling a typical pasta called “orecchiette” in the street. From an early age he was interested in manual tasks, and shaping dough by hand was one of them.

From Italy to Portugal

But the empathy she felt for “four-legged” animals led her to study veterinary medicine in Naples. During this period, while working in a well-known restaurant in the city, he discovered his passion for the world of catering. After graduating, he decided to gain experience in his field and headed for the Italian capital – majestic Rome. But it’s Portugal that will win her heart. In 2012, already married to a Portuguese man, she chose this country to live and work in.

In Portugal, she doesn’t find the pasta she used to have in Italy and notices that there isn’t the variety of ingredients she used to eat, especially in terms of vegetables and other seasonal products. An idea that he feels more and more certain about is beginning to bubble up: opening a house, a meeting place for Italian gastronomy. Perhaps an encounter with herself.

This is how the Lamassa restaurant came to be, created to pay homage to the rich and diverse ingredients and traditional flavors that make authentic Italian cuisine one of the best in the world!

What our customers say