Enoteca Ferrara

Enoteca Ferrara is the most surprising enoteca in Rome - and possibly the best. It's a gastronomic archipelago of rooms: bar, wine bar, restaurant and more modestly priced osteria with a partly covered terrace. The cuisine serves a menu of Roman ‘cucina povera’ that is not as much ‘peasant food’ anymore as it is traditional, inventive and delicious.In the heart of Trastevere near Ponte Sisto, between Vicolo del Moro and Piazza Trilussa, since 1988, the restaurant Enoteca Ferrara is considered the temple of wines with a large choice of Italian wines (1600 labels). The two sisters, Mary and Lina Paolillo, the first chef and architect and the other sommelier, opened this restaurant in 1988 near the Arch of San Callisto in Trastevere. The restaurant, which in 1996 moved to Via del Moro, is wonderful: situated in a fifteenth-century monastery of St. Euphemia, still has a beamed ceiling. Tables made of painted majolica, wooden beams and exposed stone walls and antique furniture, make the ambiance very charming, elegant and warm. Enoteca Ferrara currently count three areas in 500 square meters for a total of 120 covers: the Gourmet restaurant "Enoteca Ferrara," "ferrarino" which is the trattoria, and "La Mescita" the wine bar. The wine cellar is visible from the restaurant through an ancient forged grating. From the opening Enoteca Ferrara distinguished itself through the cuisine besides the impeccable service. From Piazza Trilussa you enter in the wine bar La Mescita to taste a very good glass of wine accompanied by a variety of fresh and delicious foods, couscous, pasta, garlic bread and cheese, vegetables; then you get down two steps in the private room with a few tables and relax. From there you enter into the charming restaurant Enoteca Ferrara, opened only for dinner, with a kind attention to every details, an ideal place to dine, relax and drink good wine! You continue in the next room, where is the Ferrarino, open for lunch and dinner for a more casual and less pretentious meal. A very nice outdoor area is for dine and for smokers, too. The Ferrarino's cuisine is based on the traditional Italian peasant: soups, polenta, stews, roman dishes, meats, cheeses and seasonal vegetables accompanied by a wine list of 400 labels. The menu which change every week is a triumph of various regions, from Veneto to Sicily. The Enoteca Ferrara's cuisine is more sophisticated, creative and refined with a Slow Food approach that exalts the quality of the raw ingredients. The dishes, expertly creative by the chef Mary, are the result of a continuous research of traditional Italian recipes.The wine list is so much amazing that in 2003 Enoteca Ferrara won the Oscar awarded for best wine shop in Italy. The wine list contains 1,600 labels, and is organized in two bound books: one for reds and one for whites, with an entire page dedicated to descriptions of every wine, complete with an impressive visual-- an actual label taken from each bottle.In addition you can find a selection of tea, coffee and spirits, from the West and the East, including some unfoundable as Puerto Rico AA, Santo Domingo Pacadulce, Indian Nugget, Chickmagalur and Santos Montecarmelo purodolce.