Fiorella Mancini opened in 1978, down an alley nobody walked through at the time. Six tables, a wood oven and two dishes a day. The alley is the same, and so is the oven.
Her nephew Matteo has cooked here since 2016. He took away the red tablecloths, brought in fish on Fridays, and left everything else exactly where it was, the cherry tart included.
Kitchen · Fiorella's nephew
In at seven to roll the pasta. Makes the gnocchi on Thursdays and takes no feedback on them.
Front of house · since 2019
Knows all twelve wines one by one and will tell you the truth about which to order.
Second chef
The salt cod is his, and the reason Friday needs booking two days ahead.
Vegetables from the Testaccio market three times a week, lamb from a farm near Rieti, pecorino from a dairy in Picinisco. Fish only when there is fish, never frozen.
No takeaway, no aperitivo, no wifi. It is not a pose: there are four of us and the room is small.