The Philadelphia Restaurant That Challenges Your Appetite To A 40-Course Italian Feast

Saffron-flavored lamb and fresh pasta are just a taste of the Italian cuisine on display twice a year at a 40-course Italian feast held at a restaurant in Philadelphia. At this eatery, you'll be treated to a modern version of la panarda, a historical and incredibly involved summertime feast held in Abruzzo, a mountain region in central Italy. Sometimes up to 50 different regional wines and dishes were (and still are) served at these Abruzzese meals over the course of about 9 hours. You can indulge in the experience without leaving the United States by booking a seat at the next feast — held at Le Virtù in Philadelphia's East Passyunk neighborhood.

Staff at Le Virtù have been serving la panarda in the winter since 2011 and added a summertime event in 2019. It's part of a deep, generational Italian tradition in East Passyunk, and the restaurant's entire menu is dedicated just to Abruzzese cuisine. The hyper-focus on this Italian region creates a nuanced and perfected range of dishes that are a nod to the family heritage of the restaurant owners. 

La panarda underlines the restaurant's love for Abruzzo; it shares cultural values of connection, hospitality, and community gathering. It's an all-day exclusive and fairly expensive event — the restaurant limits attendance to around 35 people per feast, and tickets are about $500 each, with tax and tip due at the end of the meal.

If you want to look to experts to cook some of the complicated Italian dishes not worth making at home, book a ticket to la panarda at Le Virtù. At this dinner, you'll experience more than 40 Italian dishes, and you won't have to do more than enjoy the masterpiece. Attendees say it's a challenge to get through the whole thing, and the key is to sample dishes instead of overindulging in each course. The best part about the meal is you don't have to know how to navigate a menu in Italy like a true Italian; the menu is set by experts ahead of time and geared toward an indulgent culinary and cultural experience for everyone.

The menu varies every year, but according to food blog More Time to Travel, in 2025, it was made up of six types of dishes: antipasti, pasta, salumi, round two of antipasti, round two of pasta dishes, and secondi, which is another round of main-course dishes. Everything is punctuated with rounds of classic Italian digestifs, like Guy Fieri's favorite liquor, Fernet-Branca.

One attendee told the blog, "It's a marathon, not a sprint" — worth every bite, every sip, and every penny spent on the evening. Expect dishes like skate wing rotolo antipasto with roasted peppers; coniglio spiedini, or rabbit with lentils; timballo di frittata Abruzzese, a pasta dish made with crepes, resembling lasagna; bucatini with lobster; and potato gnocchi in pecorino cheese.