Sophie Minchilli in London: Dinner in Lanuvio

When in Rome, I always make an effort and head to Ariccia with my friends at least once a week. Ariccia is the town famous for it’s Porchetta and it’s Romanella wine, situated in the Colli Romani, right outside Rome. The other night though, we decided to head a bit further to a town called Lanuvio, about 7km past Ariccia, to the restaurant owned by the uncle of one of my good friend’s. While Lanuvio is still part of the Colli Romani, the restaurants there are not considered Fraschette (a kind of restaurant typical of that area, but particularly of Ariccia), they serve more traditional food and better quality wine. The restaurant’s name is La Taverna del Marchese and is hidden in a tiny street in the old part of the small town. It’s been open for three years, and while in the very beginning it used to be a fraschetta, it recently had to turn to pizza making as well. The restaurant is very ‘homie’, with the owner’s young daughters running around the place, and it feels like you are actually eating in someone’s home. It is made very clear on the menu that it’s a ‘ristorante a km zero’, which means that all the food and wine are from Lanuvio and the area around. We had an ‘antipasto misto’ and asked the chef to bring us a mix of things, including the Focaccia they had just made; for the main we had Amatriciana and Cacio e Pepe, both very delicious. As a second course we had Abbacchio scottadito and Filetto ai Funghi Porcini, both meats came from the local butcher Maurizio Galieti. The meal was accompanied by a local biological white Malvasia, and ended with a pear and chocolate tart baked that morning by Giulia, the chef’s wife. The town is beautiful, and the simple home-made food was definitely worth the 40minute drive from Rome.