DINING OUT: L’Orto di Alberico
A RESTAURANT that shares grounds with a farm, vineyard, wine cellar and olive grove makes for an impossibly serene escape, 25 minutes by car from the nonstop tumult of Italy’s capital city.
THE HISTORY In 1946, nobleman Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi founded one of the world’s first organic vineyards. Upon his 1995 retirement, the land went fallow.
In 2008, his granddaughter Alessia Antinori, a university- trained wine expert who also happens to be an heir to Italy’s celebrated Marchesi Antinori wine dynasty, set about reviving the portions of the vineyard and farm that she and her sisters inherited. She named it Fattoria di Fiorano, or Fiorano Farm, and added a restaurant, L’Orto di Alberico, The name means Alberico’s Vegetable Garden.
THE FOOD With the patch where produce grows mere yards from the kitchen, L’Orto offers the freshest contemporary spins on Italian classics. The current menu features carrot gnocchi with pesto and fresh goat cheese; spaghetti carbonara with artichokes instead of pancetta; and, for dessert, homemade strawberry sorbet flavored with fresh mint.
THE DRINKS Here, a meal and its accompanying glass of vino come from the same acreage. Try a seductive cabernet sauvignon-merlot or a sémillon from Ludovisi’s original vine cuttings.
THE LOOK The ocher-colored stucco farmhouse feels like an elegant but cozy Italian country home, complete with fireplace and Antinori family memorabilia. Or on Rome’s mild spring evenings, how about dining under the stars, serenaded by chirping crickets?
THE EXTRA PERK Most guests are Roman, offering visitors from abroad a rare opportunity to hobnob with locals (who otherwise tend to avoid tourists).
DETAILS Meals start at about $34 per person. Wine is less than $5 by the glass. Reservations essential; OrtoDiAlberico.it. — Linda Dyett