Lonely Planet India - August 2016

“IT’S PLACES LIKE THIS HOLE-

IN-THE-WALL SHOP THAT

MAKE ROME SO EXCITING”

EASY EUROPE ROME

The day job

In Pigneto Rome’s slowly-gentrifying eastern district street art crowds the walls

• a superhero’s head here a mural of a giant beetle there – and bars are concealed
  in unexpected places. In an innocuous-looking panini shop neon letters spell out
  ‘prime meat’ above what looks like a fridge door. Beyond this and an additional
  ruse of hanging cured hams hides Spirito: a sprawling speakeasy owned by
  Massimo Innocenti. Among scarlet leather booths and a roulette table that doubles
  as the bar Spirito serves inventive cocktails – including the ‘Bloody Maryachi’
  a tequila spin on a Bloody Mary – plus special panini such as black-squid-ink rolls.
  “When I came to Pigneto in 2001 it was a frontier. The only bars were smoke-
  stained places where old people played cards” says Massimo. He moved to
  the neighbourhood because after spending time in London Paris and Berlin
  he wanted to continue living somewhere with an international feel. “Now
  it’s the kind of place where you see artists students and filmmakers alongside
  Senegalese immigrants in their traditional dress.”
  Spirito and the panineria opened in summer 2014 just across the road from
  Necci the restaurant which Massimo took over some years earlier turning it into
  a stylish hangout for Pigneto creatives. “I only have one rule” says Massimo
  “to create places where I can have fun myself.”
  l 00-39-327-298-3900; http://www.club-spirito.com; Via Bortolomeo Fanfulla 53; 6pm onwards
  Wed – Sat and Mon 11am – 3.30pm Sun; cocktails from ` 600

MASSIMO INNOCENTI

RESTAURATEUR AND SPEAKEASY OWNER

The day off

Massimo’s watering hole of choice in Pigneto is Co.So

a bar that with its cocktail-shaker door handles grabs

drinkers’ attention even before they’ve stepped across

the threshold. Inside jars of house-crafted cinnamon

syrup and cacao bitters line the counter. A bartender

strains a liquorice mojito into a metal flowerpot

and garnishes it with copious mint sprigs so it looks

like it’s growing out of the container. “The cocktails

are great but more important is the atmosphere”

says Massimo. “I hate bars where no one

is comfortable enough to chat.”

Co.So’s decor is determinedly playful. Among

the Pop-Art-inspired furniture – which is available

for customers to buy – is a hot-red chair shaped like

a naked kneeling figure. On one wall a Godzilla

figurine climbs a two-litre vodka bottle; opposite

a one-way window conceals a secret room accessed

through a faux-shower in the bar’s toilets.

Like many Pigneto residents Massimo finds it hard

to tear himself away from the district. One place he

considers worth venturing out for is Retro a diminutive

interiors store in one of Rome’s barely-big-enough-to-

park-a-car squares. Inside curvaceous ’50s armchairs

by design giants from Eames to Ercol sit alongside

period Italian glassware and bakelite jewellery.

“I get a lot of design inspiration here” says Massimo.

“And they’re such nice people they have time for you

even if you’re not buying anything.”

Usually when Massimo strays from Pigneto you’ll find

him in Zia Rosetta a stylised hole-in-the-wall in Monti

that gets its name from a typically Roman rose-shaped

bun. Here this bread has become Italy’s answer to the

hamburger or slider. Every filling is inspired by a

different rose hybrid such as the ‘Peggy Rockfeller’

(crudo ham crisped parmesan and grilled aubergine).

Dressed head-to-toe in black and with a handlebar

moustache chef-owner Alessandro has a rugged look

that is in contrast to his food. Equally eclectic are the

clientele: two tanned elegant women sit on silver high

stools sipping drinks and picking at salads in recycled

cardboard boxes while a bearded tattooed twenty-

something eats his mini slider standing leaning in the

doorway. “It’s little places like this that makes Rome

exciting” says Massimo. “I love that you can have this

really intense taste experience without having a formal

meal. What’s the point in always being so serious?”

l 00-39-6-4543-5428; Co.So Via Braccio da Montone 80;

7pm – 3am; cocktails from ` 750

l 00-39-6-6819-2746; http://www.retrodesign.it; Piazza del Fico 20/ 21

l 00-39-6-3105-2516; http://www.ziarosetta.com; Via Urbana 54;

11am –11pm Tues – Sun; rosetta sliders from ` 150

68 July 2016