Today is an important day for Rome food lovers: Eataly finally opens its branch in Rome and it’s going to be “the largest place in the world dedicated to high quality Italian food & wine”.
4 floors and 160.000 square feet space
23 restaurants and other eating areas
8 classrooms for cooking classes and professional courses
14.000 goods for sale
8 artisan production points
a food market
conference area
Eataly Rome is devoted to beauty and a “Manifesto dell’Armonia” was issued: they want to be “a place for everybody where it’s possible to spend some time in harmony”.
Is it only marketing stuff? Not in our opinion, at least after the pre-opening visit we had together with food journalists and other bloggers few days ago. It’s going to become a “Mecca” (or a “fan fair” if you prefer) for foodies in Rome! A useful venue for people living in Rome and a must-visit place for who is staying just few days in Rome (indications on how to get there are at the end of the post).
Nearby area is still “under construction” but it already looks like a miracle the renovations and valorization of a building that was emblematic of the waste of public money for Italia ’90 soccer world championships. One of the most degraded points of Rome until few months ago.
Thank you Mr Farinetti!
Since we write about many Rome restaurants let’s start just from the high-end restaurant at the top of Eataly building, named “Italia”. We can bet easily it will be the most talked one between Rome foodies during the next months!
We can’t yet write about its food since we haven’t tried it, but the young (29 years old) chef Gianluca Esposito is an interesting name coming from Eataly Bologna, open-plan kitchen is amazing, decor is superb with a minimalist style not easy to find in Rome and three true Modigliani sculptures around enrich it! At one side of the room a contemporary mirror-wall-cellar is an artwork itself.
Restaurant is located at the highest floor of the building and has a 180° panorama. But you could be astonished by the view! Don’t expect to see Rome historical center from there. Remember, you are in Ostiense district that is located few miles from city hearth and built (not so well) in the XX century. Hope the local government will let Eataly realize a vegetable garden on the horrible roof just in front of the windows as they’d like to do.
The restaurant menu will include seasonal dishes representing Italian Regions diversity. About 20 dishes from 20 different areas of Italy with frequent changes. A potential candidate for a Michelin-star and maybe for our future traditional with a twist sit-down meals in a “splurge” version?
Let’s move to the other spaces. In one sentence, you can find at Eataly every kind of Italian food you can imagine, to eat there or to take away. Pasta, Pizza, Bread, Meat, Fish, Fried delicacies, Panino, Gelato, Pastries just to mention “few” of the available type of food. Live making of Mozzarella, fresh pasta and other artisanal products. Interesting events w ithspecial guests are planned for the coming weeks.
And for a really exclusive dinner you can try to buy one of the 10 tickets that will be sold by auction on their website each month of the first year of operation, to seat at the “Tavolo dei 10 fortunati” with a dinner prepared at the same table by some of the world’s most famous chef (Ferran Adrià, Alain Ducasse, etc). After the first year the show cooking table made by Whirlpool will move to New York City at the MOMA museum.
Craft Beer and Wine lovers will also be more than satisfied such as people looking for food shopping and kitchen equipment.
But we don’t want to describe in detail all the many spaces you’ll find. We prefer to let the pictures we took during the “press tour” give you some highlights.
Eataly Roma
Air Terminal Ostiense
Piazzale XII Ottobre 1492, Rome
Open all days from 10am until midnight
Tel. +39 06 90.27.92.01
How to get there
Metro B Piramide or Garbatella stop
Bus: 60, 63, 280, 175 and 30 express, 670, 715 and 716
Train: Ostiense station
map
Images by Tavole Romane – All Rights Reserved
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