Antica Pesa

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Trastevere Institution Since 1922

The story of Antica Pesa goes back further than most restaurants dare to claim. The building on Via Garibaldi in Rome's Trastevere district traces its roots to the 17th century, when it served as a refreshment stand offering bread and wine to peasants who delivered grain to the Vatican's customs office on the same site. By 1922, the Panella family had turned it into the restaurant it is today — and four generations later, they are still at the table.

That continuity is not incidental. It is the whole point. As the family puts it, Antica Pesa exists to honour Roman origins and celebrate "the beauty of a thousand-year-old tradition." Over a century of service, the dining room walls have accumulated photographs of guests ranging from Al Pacino and Brad Pitt to Madonna — a testament to a place that has quietly become, as one press account put it, la trattoria of Trastevere.

The Panella Family and the Kitchen

Three members of the fourth generation now run the restaurant together. Francesco Panella — restaurateur, entrepreneur, and television personality — brings energy and an instinct for storytelling to the front of house. His brother Simone serves as executive chef, approaching the kitchen with what the family describes as "respect and reinterpretation of tradition through technique, research and passion." Lorenzo Panella leads daily operations, with Italian hospitality and Italian cuisine embedded, in his own words, in his DNA. Together, Francesco and Simone have also co-authored a book chronicling 100 years of Roman cooking through the history of Antica Pesa.

Roman Cooking, Reinterpreted

The menu at Antica Pesa does not simply reproduce Roman classics — it works through them. Dishes like Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, Amatriciana, and Carbonara appear on the table as expressions of memory and craft, reinterpreted through contemporary technique without losing their identity. The tasting menu, the Antica Pesa Forest Menu, offers a focused four-course sequence — from Crudo di Amatrice with buffalo mozzarella in filo dough through to a millefeuille with almond white chocolate and spiced pear — each dish rooted in the Roman tradition that defines the restaurant's Italian cuisine.

A Cellar Worth the Recognition

Wine has always been central here. The cellar holds over 1,100 labels and has earned recognition from the Guida dell'Espresso as Cantina dell'Anno. In 2023, after celebrating both a century of activity in Rome and a decade in New York, Antica Pesa received the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence — the first time the magazine had recognised the restaurant, and a milestone the family described as a significant honour for Roman dining and Lazio winemaking alike.

Beyond Rome

Antica Pesa has expanded without diluting its identity. Locations in New York and Doha carry the same family values to different continents, with the Doha outpost earning recognition from the Food & Travel Arabia GCC Awards. The Rome original, however, remains the anchor — the place where the history lives, and where the Italian cuisine that built the name continues to be served each evening.