Pollo Rossini has two chicken breasts layered with ham, melted mozzarella, basil, herbs, garlic and tomatoes.

LINCOLN — Chef Luciano Canova certainly has found the recipe for success.

His combination of delicious Italian fare, mixing the traditional with the unexpected, have long made his Luciano’s in Wrentham, Mass., a draw for customers, even from Rhode Island.

Now he and a pair of new partners — Pauline St. Pierre and longtime Luciano’s chef Angel Amaya — have opened a lovely new restaurant — the Trattoria Romana Bar & Grill, in the plaza opposite the Lincoln Mall.

Right from the first, the place has found lots of diners eager to sample Canova’s imaginative fare — all the recipes are his own — made even more attractive with moderate prices. It was obvious that Trattoria Romana had been an immediate success when we arrived at 8 on a Wednesday night, only weeks into its operation, to discover nearly every table taken. We were happy to have made reservations.

There are three separate dining rooms, each taking its own distinctive flair from the enormous murals of Rome’s most famous sites done with bold colors and brush strokes by Ron Dabelle. The trattoria also has a long bar with high tables as well as an outdoor dining area, hidden from the parking lot by tall bushes, that St. Pierre said in a later phone call was designed to resemble a Roman garden, complete with fountain. Even though the restaurant is fairly large, though not as large as the 330-seat Luciano’s, the breakup of the dining rooms makes it seem cozy.

Dabelle’s rendering of the Spanish Steps is the eye-catching mural in the front dining room opposite the bar area. In the first of the two dining rooms that sit behind the bar, his mural of the Colosseum dominates. The third dining room, where we were seated, had murals of both the Trevi Fountain and the Castel Sant’Angelo, the venerable former papal fortress on the Tiber. A huge mirror strategically placed opposite the Castel Sant’Angelo makes the room seem much larger than it really is. Scattered along the walls throughout the trattoria, and giving it a homey touch, are photos from Canova’s past. They included, in our room, color photos of the Colonel Blackinton Inn in Attleboro, which is owned by his son.

In a follow-up phone call, the 58-year-old Canova, who was born in a small village outside Rome and began his cooking career in the Eternal City, said many of the murals reminded him of his younger days. He added that many of the photos lining the walls are from his return visits to Italy.

Flanking the open door between the two adjoining dining rooms are floor-to-ceiling wine cabinets. Portable steps, used to reach the top shelves just like in a library, rested at the base of one cabinet. In fact, the wine cabinets, coupled with the low lighting and the subdued wall colors — one peach, one rose — gave the room the feel of a library.

Needless to say, Trattoria Romana has an extensive wine list, although instead of ordering from it, we went with the fancy martinis. My dining companion’s Bella Donna blended dark rum, Amaretto and sour mix for what was a surprisingly sweet drink. My caramel apple martini, a mix of vodka, De Kuyper Pucker Sour apple schnapps and cranberry juice, had both sweet and sour elements with a sure taste of apple.

Soon there was a welcoming basket of warm — well, actually very hot and very good — crusty Italian bread for dipping in a little dish of olive oil, made more delicious with the addition of two large roasted cloves of garlic and a spritz of balsamic vinegar.

Donna, our cheerful and attentive waitress, is a veteran of both the Colonel Blackinton Inn and, for many more years, Luciano’s in Wrentham. For appetizers we chose two items that sounded much more imaginative than the usual calamari and mussels — prosciutto-wrapped mozzarella ($9.95) and melanzana ripiene ($8.95), which is pan-fried eggplant rolled with Italian ham and herbed ricotta. Both were winners. They were very different and yet it was difficult to decide which we liked best.

“Tastes like a BLT,” I said at the first bite of the mozzarella wrapped in lightly sautÉed prosciutto, a heartier cut than one normally gets. The salty prosciutto was a good companion to the mild and creamy mozzarella. Two large slices of the mozzarella-wraped prosciutto were laid end-to-end crosswise on the plate, while two large spicy green peppers, stuffed all the way down with heady provolone, were laid perpendicular to them. They made for a smashing presentation, sitting on a bed of arugula that had a very good, tangy dressing of extra virgin olive oil.

The ham and the delicate ricotta with basil that stuffed the eggplant in the melanzana ripiene made for a compatible combination of flavors, all smothered and baked in a hearty San Marzano tomato sauce that gave the dish its mouth-watering richness.

My dining companion couldn’t resist also trying the pasta fagioli ($4.95). Traditional it was, a big bowl of hearty tomato-based soup chock full of beans and small cuts of ziti cooked perfectly al dente.

Yes, you can find familiar Italian restaurant fare at Trattoria Romana, including fettuccini Alfredo, gnocchi, chicken marsala, Bolognese sauce over pappardelle, plus a filet mignon and a New York sirloin.

But the menu has many more inventive things, too. The salmon Oscar ($16.95) tempted, a grilled filet topped with lobster meat and asparagus spears, sautÉed in white wine and lemon, finished with bÉarnaise sauce. So did the rigatoni zingara ($13.95), a homemade tube pasta sautÉed with sweet Italian sausage, mushrooms and black olives in a San Marzano tomato sauce, splashed with a dash of cream and finished with pecorino Romano cheese. All the pasta served at Trattoria Romana, by the way, is made on the premises, said Donna, except for gluten-free pasta which may be ordered instead.

My pollo Rossini ($14.95) had two good-sized, velvety tender chicken breasts layered with thin slices of imported ham, creamy melted mozzarella, basil, herbs, chunky garlic and beefy slices of beefsteak tomatoes. This wonderfully rich concoction, with its myriad of complimentary flavors, sat atop a generous portion of thin-strand capellini pasta that had been tossed in a light garlic marinara sauce, finished with extra virgin olive oil and a shaving of parmigiano-reggiano. It was heaven on a plate.

My dining companion’s vitello saltimbocca alla Romana ($16.95) went way beyond the veal saltimbocca served elsewhere. Pounded-thin, fork-tender veal medallions had been topped with thin-sliced imported Parma prosciutto, a light touch of mozzarella and fresh sage, then pan-seared in a marsala wine sauce and served over ribbons of pappardelle pasta. The sauce was light, almost buttery, with a subtle flavor of the sage. It all seemed quite elegant.

On the side of both entrees, and hardly necessary, were little dishes of steamed vegetables. The dishes may have been tiny, but the kitchen staff nevertheless managed to squeeze in broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini and yellow squash, and more than one of each.

St. Pierre said that the cheesecake served at Trattoria Romana is made from Canova’s own recipe. The cannolis and the praline caramel cheesecake are also made here; all the other desserts are made elsewhere.

I loved my frutti di Basco ($5.95). It was a wonderfully buttery slice of pastry shell that had been filled with airy Chantilly cream and topped with a mix of raspberries and blackberries, surrounded by sweet raspberry sauce. It was a summer garden all by itself.

My companion’s molten volcano chocolate cake ($5.95) looked like it was exploding on top. A big scoop of vanilla ice cream sat atop the warm, moist cake, with swirls of chocolate sauce drizzled over the ice cream and around the plate, plus a poof of whipped cream. As if that weren’t dreamy enough, my companion also ordered a sweet dream coffee ($7), which was more expensive than the dessert it accompanied, but was luscious with Bailey’s Irish Cream, Kahlua and Frangelico Hazelnut liqueur.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

mjanuson@projo.com