Built on the
Belief That Real
Italian Food
Needs Nothing
Extra.
Marco Serrano grew up in Matera, in the south of Italy, in a family that treated Sunday dinner as a sacred event. Three hours at the table, pasta made from scratch that morning, wine poured without a menu. No performance. Just food that carried weight because it was made with time and intention.
He spent 14 years in restaurant kitchens in Rome, New York, and Chicago before choosing Nashville — a city, he says, that eats the same way Southerners eat: slowly, communally, and with real joy. Osteria Volante opened in 2017 with eight tables and a waitlist within three months. It still operates with the same eight tables. The waitlist is still there.
We change the menu with the seasons. We make every pasta and bread in-house, daily. We don’t do brunch, we don’t do happy hour, and we don’t take tables larger than six. Small and intentional is the point.
