Restaurants and bars in Capena

All the restaurants in Capena are a triumph of substance over style. Expect great, good-value food, sometimes with no menu, in homely surroundings. Most restaurants will bring a mouth-watering array of antipasti unless you stop them. If you ask for a digestivo after your meal (limoncello is popular), you will often be bought the whole bottle. Restaurants start serving dinner at about 7 but are at their busiest at about 8.30 pm. Don’t be surprised to find the locals watching the football at L’Aproniano and Da Felllicino (Billy's).

Most restaurants in Capena are best for evening meals (apart from Bar 3000 below). A cheap lunch option for a great choice of top quality dishes is to go to the self-service restaurant in L’Arca shopping mall. Drive out of Capena on the Via Provinciale. Follow the road for about 3 km until you get to a T-junction and then turn right. Look for the big entrance to L’Arca on your left after about 200 metres.

There are also two shops serving take-away pizza slices and other excellent fast food, Italian style. One is on the corner of Via del Mattatoio at the end of the tiny park with the children’s playground at the top of the village; the other is a bakery (Il Forno) on the Via Provinciale out of Capena. Look out for it on your left just before the turn-off to Fiano.

The birreria in the Piazza del Popolo below the Rocca is open for breakfast and then again from 5 pm to 1 am. This quirky little place (shown above right) with painted and ceramic decorations is owned by Rosina Wachmeister’s daughter and decorated by her and Rosina’s grandson Battista.

Capena contains several bars but the best place for breakfast (of the coffee and croissant kind, shown on the left) is currently the Antica caffeteria, opposite the unsophisticated Central Market supermarket looking down Via IV Novembre.

The following bars and restaurants are indicated by number on the map below:

L’Aproniano

A large but cosy restaurant near the school and football pitch, popular with families. Excellent pizzas (eat in and take away), good antipasti and a basic menu of the usual pasta and main courses. The pizzas are so large that you’ll probably want to take the unfinished part home with you, for which they’ll happily provide a box. As with most of the local restaurants, the delicious desserts are home-made. During the summer, soft lighting turns what is an unassuming corner of a car park by day into a magical and romantic setting for alfresco dining.

Big Alí

Undoubtedly the best value food in Capena if all you want is pizza or pasta. A lively, bustling atmosphere. Probably best to book a table or go early to beat the crowds. Serves a large pizza and pasta menu. Outside eating area in summer.

Da Felllicino (Billy’s)

A bit of a hike up the hill, but worth it when you get there: an excellent restaurant with a Sardinian flavour, specialising in fish and seafood dishes. The seafood antipasti are a mouthwatering meal in themselves but leave room for a dessert like the one shown. Worth asking for a menu because the pricing can sometimes be a little erratic. Outside eating area in summer, beneath a commodious canopy. The condition of the lavatories leaves something to be desired.

Bar 3000 (Chico’s)

Friendly bar with pool table. The unpretentious exterior is shown in the picture on the left. This is a great place for a cheap lunch. There’s no menu but they offer a choice of pasta and simple main courses. Ask for a mozzarella and tomato salad. No outside eating, no food served in high summer (too hot in the kitchen, apparently). The popularity of the bar with the local menfolk has been attributed to the attractiveness of the young female management team.

Il Casale (not numbered on the map but virtually next door to Monte degli Ulivi, below) is another of the area’s many pizzerias with a very good reputation.

Monte degli Ulivi

Take the Via Provinciale out of Capena and look for the turn-off on the right before the petrol station. The restaurant is signposted. It is a five minute drive out of Capena but worth it for 5 star service and food. Costs a fraction more than the other restaurants in the village but it is well worth the extra. The restaurant is a little austere when eating inside in winter but in summer you can eat on a lovely terrace.

Dolci Tentazioni

Tiny ice cream and cake shop selling home-made cakes in winter and home-made ice cream in summer.

L’Anatra Grassa

This newish restaurant is run by a very likeable young Anglophile couple who until recently worked in a smart Italian restaurant in Knightsbridge and speak good English. They clearly aspire to something more ambitious than the average fare. The prices are a little higher than elsewhere but still very reasonable. The food is delicious and exquisitely prepared and served. Truffles are on the menu when in season.

All photographs on this page were taken in 2007 and 2008