Lunch with the ex-cons

Da Giovanni Osteria e Cucina restaurant in Rome, Italy

Giovanni's is such a warm and friendly little hole-in-the-wall osteria it's easy to forget that many of its clients, aside from a cadre of neighborhood regulars, are relatives just coming from visiting inmates at the nearby Regina Coeli prison. Stefano and Domenico (always in his white waiter's coat) bustle about the cozy room serving the 12 tables of hungry customers heaping plates of fettucine (egg noodles) or agnolotti (tortellini) in tomato sauce, trippa alla Romana, pollo (chicken) alla cacciatore, roast coniglio (rabbit), or a bistecca di vitellone (yearling veal steak). The house wine comes from the Castelli Romani south of Rome, and with no reservations accepted, there's always a clump of people patiently waiting just inside the strings of plastic beads hanging in the doorway.

Via della Lungara 41A (a sunken road parallel to Lungotevere Gianicolense, between Trastevere and the Vatican)
tel. 06-686-1514
Closed Sunday and August

The Travel Store

 

Choose Rome section Rome homepage Best hotels in Rome Restaurants in Rome Rome Sightseeing  - Top sights  - Reid's List: Rome  - Rome for free  - Rome Churches  - Rome Museums  - Rome Sidetrips Rome FAQ  - Getting to Rome  - Getting around Rome  - Perfect itineraries Rome blog

Hotels in Rome

Destinations Africa Asia Australia / South Pacific Caribbean Europe North America South / Central America Worldwide / General