Gourmet Traveller, In Rome with Fendi

Gourmet Traveller

IN ROME WITH A FENDI

Ilaria Venturini fendi, a refreshingly down to earth member of Italian fashion royalty, takes time out from running her farm and eco-conscious accessories label to give GT a personal tour of her favourite expereinces in The Eternal City

words Marion Hume

Ilaria Venturini Fendi has planned on being a farmer. But with both Rome and fashion in her blood, she was soon called back to the same path as her famous family members. The youngest daughter of Anna Fendi, one of the five sisters of the fashion dynasty, Ilaria is also younger sister to Silvia Venturini Fendi, who works with Karl Lagerfeld on the Fendi line.

Ilaria herself once in the Fendi design fold. But five years ago, she decided she wanted to rediscover the countryside she had fallen in love with as a child by the side of her beloved father, who died when she was 10. So she left the company bearing the maternal family name, (by then owned by luxury giant, LVMH) and bought a farm about 30 minutes north of Rome with a view to turning it entirely organic.

“I thought being a farmer would be my life, but fashion pulled me back,” she laughs. It was was honey bees that did it. Having successfully introduced beehives to her property, she was asked by the University of Rome to welcome a visiting delegation of farmers from Cameroon in West Africa to teach them about the vital importance of beekeeping for the health of the land. Later, her guests returned with gifts – traditional crochet hats from their homeland – to thank her for her hospitality. Immediately, Fendi turned a hat upside down and in her mind, saw it trimmed with leather as a funky new handbag. Soon, these bags were for sale in Re(f)use, a little store she opened in a family-owed property in Rome. Today, Re(f)use also offers a range of beautiful, upmarket pieces made entirely from reclaimed materials both under Ilaria’s own label, Carmina Campus and by other designers. “Recycling used to mean cheap and amateur, but I am a Fendi!” she says. Carmina Campus, which is also available at 10, Corso Como in Milan, L’Eclaireur, Paris and Dover Street Market in London.

“Before, I really wanted to find out whether I was born to be a designer or something else. Now I know I am a mix of both my mother and my father. I realized I could be a farmer and in fashion,” For her personal wardobe, she favours layered T-shirts, skinny jeans and sturdy boots, “because I could be sketching at my desk one minute (at her country design studio on the farm) and talking to the shepherd the next!”

Fendi divides her time between the farm and Rome itself, which she loves for its eclectic vibe – its antiquities sitting almost casually next to the funkiest bars. “I grew up breathing the leather of the workshops in Rome. But I’ve always been something of an activist,” she says. “I used to find fashion people so passive about what was happening to the environment, although that is changing now. I saw a way both to use things differently and also to make ugly things fabulous,” she says. “You could say I have found the balance to my life!”

ILARIA FENDI’S ROME

EAT

“You can eat and drink all day and all night in Rome!” says Ilaria. Indeed, from the morning’s first orange-scented, doughy cornetto – the Roman croissant pepped up with a shot of espresso – to an icy granita, a relief in the wee small hours of a hot summer night – and with lunch, a gelato, bar snacks and dinner in between – Rome is gourmet heaven.

CAFFE

Morning in Rome begins with “un caffe” (espresso – and you might consider taking the super-strong Roman version, “poco zucchero”, with sugar, or it is like drinking rocket fuel). Caffe Sant’Eustachio is where politicians fortify themselves before heading to the nearby Senate while La Casa del Caffe Tazza D’Oro is where Romans go to stock up on beans for the kitchen cupboard. Expect the crowds to be at least three deep at the bar.

Caffe Sant’Eustachio
Piazza Sant’Eustachio, 82
(near Piazza Navona)

La Casa del Caffe Tazza D’Oro
dal 1946
aroma di Roma
Via degli Orfani 84 (Pantheon)
www.tazzadorocaoffeeshop.com

GELATI

While tourists, and many locals, love the grand ice cream parlours, such as Giolitti, which Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn visited in “Roman Holiday”, “I prefer San Crispino” says Ilaria, “because everything is fresh and seasonal.” This little gem, (also the favourite of Cate Blanchett when she was in Rome filming “The Life Aquatic”) doesn’t look much; just a stainless steel counter with labelled lids indicating the treasures frozen beneath. A scoop each of fresh “sorbetto di fichi neri’  (black fig sorbet) and “sorbetto alla pesca gialla” (yellow peach sorbet) is surely the food of the gods. (Note, tubs only here. For cones go to Giolitti).

San Crispino
via della Panetteria,  (Pantheon)

Gelateria Giolitti
Via degli Uffici del Vicario

PIZZE

The pizza was not invented in Rome – it probably came from Greece and made its way through Italy, via Naples, in the 18th century – but don’t bother telling that to a Roman. The best pizzas are Roman and the best Roman pizzas, according to Ilaria Venturini Fendi, are thin crust from Baffetto. You’ll have to queue and don’t even think about lingering at your table after snorting up this most delicious fast-food treat.

Pizzeria da Baffetto
via del Governo Vecchio, 114 – (Pantheon)

COCKTAIL HOUR

“I love the bars at Piazza di Pietra; either Fandango, where you can also read or buy books, or Salotto 42 or Osteria dell’Ingegno, they are all there,” says Ilaria.  And how Roman is this Piazza:- on one side of the square are bars with live music, mini screening rooms and a vast array of wine to sip pre or post dinner, from 6pm to about 4 am, while across the street are the remains of the great temple, dedicated to Hadrian and built in 145 AD, incorporated into a 19th century building, housing the Chamber of Commerce. “It’s so typical to build on the top of everything else. Rome is a living city, not a museum,” says Ilaria.

Caffe Fandango
Piazza di Pietra 32/33
www.caffefandango.it

Osteria dell’Ingegno
Piazza di Pietra 45

Salotto 42
Piazza di Pietra, 42
www.salotto42.it

CIOCCOLATO

“This really is a secret favourite,” says Ilaria, naming Said Roma as her choice for winter eats. Why winter? “They cook with chocolate which doesn’t work so well for summer.” In fact, when chocolate first reached Italy in the 16th century, it was used savory, not sweet. To this day, Piedmont hunters’ meat stews often include a hint of cocoa.

Said Roma is a “find” for several reasons. It’s in the San Lorenzo industrial area, right off the tourist track yet still central, (think Sydney’s Surry Hills or Fitzroy, Melbourne) and this vast still-functioning artisan chocolate factory, built by the current owner’s grandfather in 1923, is a favourite with locals who stock up after dinner on any of the 60 varieties of praline. You eat surrounded by contraptions for melting, cooling and shaping chocolate – without a chocolate fountain to be seen.

Said Roma
Via Tiburtina, 135 (San Lorenzo)
tel + 39  06  4469204
www.said.it (check website for seasonal closures)

SHOP

Delettrez

Goth skulls decked with jewels, a raven as black as night with a spider of diamonds in its claw; the imagination behind the Delettrez jewellery collection draws fashion girls from around the world – and Karl Lagerfeld – to a tiny shop down a narrow Roman street. Delfina Delettrez is Silvia Venturini Fendi’s daughter, although she is making her own way with her dark, moody sparklers. “So she’s my niece, but I would mention the store anyway!” says Ilaria.

Delettrez
Via del Governo Vecchio, 67
Roma
tel + 39  06 68134105

Re(f)use

“Luxury bags don’t usually make you smile,” says Ilaria Venturini Fendi. The key to the success of her Carmina Campus line is that the quality of the leather and the craftsmanship of her bags, made in Italy, compliments the handwork, often created in Africa. Everything on sale at Re(f)use celebrates the invention of a new life for old objects and the store acts as a showcase for the most innovative recyclers including British artist, Stuart Haygarth, whose stunning chandelier, made out of discarded spectacles, is the store’s centre piece.

Re(f)use by Carmina Campus,
via Fontanella Borghese 40 (Tridente area)
tel + 39 06 68136975
www.carminacampus.org

Luna e L’Altra

“I like to mix things up,” says Ilaria whose fashion boutique of choice is Luna e L’Altra which carries such labels as Yohji Yamamoto, Martin Margiela, Issey Miyake, Dries Van Noten and Rick Owens. “Fashion people travel constantly, and maybe this store is not what you’d expect in ancient Rome,” she says.

Luna e L’Altra
Piazza Pasquino, 76
00186 Rome
T 06  68804995
www.inromenow.com

VISIT

“I’m fascinated by the Etruscans,” Ilaria says of the people who occupied the ancient city of Veio before the rise of the Roman Empire. Her farm stands within the Parco di Veio, an ancient Etruscan site and includes an arch dating from the 5th century BC.  “The Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia is wonderful. Don’t miss the exceptional jewellery, much of which looks like you could wear it now.”

Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia,
Piazzale di Villa Giulia, 9
tel + 39  06 32000562
www.beniculturali.it

DAY TRIPPING
I Casali del Pino

No surprise that Ilaria mentions the restaurant at her farm, an easy 30 minute drive North from the centre of the city. Dogs and donkeys wander around and the food is  “very simple cuisine of the Roman tradition, but all products made in the farm or, in any case, coming from other organic farms in the area.” Check out the peccorino cheese from Ilaria’s own flock of sheep. Afterwards, take a brief walk around the 19th century buildings of what was a municipal tobacco plant and will soon reopen as a new restaurant site, a spa and accommodation for visitors wanting to learn organic farming techniques.
I Casali del Pino
via Giacomo  Andreassi 30, 20123
Rome (La Storta)
Open Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes only. There’s no website yet, but email ahead for full directions and seasonal opening times.
icasalidelpino@tiscali.it

Fregene
Fregene, 25k east of Rome on the seaside, was where Fellini headed in the summer. Of course there is a sensational seafood restaurant right on the beach. “I lived right near this beach for a while when I was younger,” says Ilaria as her design team join her for lunch at the famous Mastino. Out comes slithers of tiny octopus with balsamic vinegar, telline (clams from the sand) and a mixed seafood vongole to be sopped up with crusty bread. Then there’s the zuppa di pesce, fish soup  followed by mezzamaniche con spigola e mazzancolle, a crab pasta, rounded off with “un caffe”. “In the 60s, this was La Dolce Vita and all the actors and actresses came here,” says Ilaria, “I love it still!”

Mastino Beach
Via Silvi Marina
19 Fregene
tel + 6 66563880

MORE ROAMIN’
BABETTE’S

Where to go for lunch in Rome? Babette’s is named for the 1989 movie, “Babette’s Feast” and every day, a 12 euro, all-you-can-eat, buffet is served with love by Silvia Sallorenzo and her sister, Flora, both escapees from the fashion business. “I had enough of fashion. I wanted to take care of people,” says Silvia, who starts her morning preparing the meat ragu which needs to cook for hours, and then gets going on the pasta. “Every day there are lots of satisfied people, the opposite of the fashion business.”

Babette’s is such a lunchtime bargain for several reasons, the first that the sisters want to take responsibility for young Romans, now far from Mama’s apron strings, being exposed to good food they can afford; the second that the buffet allows for experimentation that fuels the full-price evening menu.

Starters might include “Terrina di melanzane alla menta”,
Mint-flavoured aubergine terrine then such house specialties as “Tortiglioni con zucchine, zafferano e pesto al pistacchi”, corkscrew pasta with zucchini, saffron and pistachio pesto, or “Calamarata di pasta fesca con pomodorini cotti al forno”, homemade pasta with baked cherry tomatoes and Ligurian black olives. Regulars know to snap up Torte Babette whenever it is on offer. “The recipe is a secret. It’s not so much a cheesecake meets a soufflé as a mystical experience!” says Silvia’s actress daughter, Alessandra, who works at this family joint between auditions.

Babette
Via Margutta 1/d – 3 (near Piazza del Popolo)
tel + 39 06 32 11 559
www.babetteristorante.it