Ristorante Bar del Fico in Piazza Navona: A Winter Courtyard in the Heart of Rome

Posted by Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 2/06/2023

Ristorante Bar del Fico in Piazza Navona: A Winter Courtyard in the Heart of Rome

It's winter and it's time to hide those outdoor tables again and dine in the warmth of the four walls of the restaurants. But in some cases, there is a way to look up and see the blue sky with the tiled roofs and windows of Rome winking back at you without suffering from the lower temperatures outside. Just a stone's throw away from Piazza Navona, along Via della Pace, the restaurant of the historic Bar del Fico conquers its clients with a modern cuisine in its welcoming dining room. A part of Navona Palace Luxury Inn, Ristorante Bar del Fico is a retro-style internal courtyard covered with a glass ceiling where pizzas are freshly-baked in a wood-fired brick oven as well as the chef's modern take on Italian cuisine with Asian influences can be enjoyed.

Ristorante Bar del Fico is a restaurant with more than 30 years of history but with a more recent restyling to a retro design brightened up with vibrant colors of electric blue to fuchsia and orange. Black glass tables, velvet and wooden seats, large hanging lanterns and a large ficus tree that thrives with the bright natural light filling in the large dining room. On the other hand, there is Bar del Fico which was born much earlier, in 1922, where Romans met for drinks. It is a tradition that has accompanied the locals up until present throughout the day from breakfast, light lunch and cocktails.

The kitchen couldn't be more interesting with Chef Massimo Baroni behind the stoves. Having been born in Rome, most of Baroni's experiences transpired in the capital for 25 years. He had learned the trade in the famous Roman bar Antonini which was managed by his family then he began his personal adventure with the opening of "Benito al Ghetto" at the Jewish quarter. The pivotal point of his career was in Singapore wherein he collaborated with hotel chains and starred restaurants. On the request of Fabio Nardoni, the director of Ristorante Bar del Fico, Baroni returned to Rome carrying his important baggage of experience in the cosmopolitan Asian city.

At Ristorante Bar del Fico, expect a simple cuisine with a marked Roman traction, following the chef's origin, but made more fascinating with touches of foreign influence. The menu is seasonal which guarantees the quality of the raw materials, respecting the natural production cycles and the usage of non-invasive cooking techniques which results in the preservation of the qualities of the ingredients. It is basically a kitchen of substance with few scenic effects.

“To win over a customer and his palate, it is no longer necessary to overturn an excellent quality raw material by transforming it into a foam or air for a molecular cuisine which no longer amazes," Chef Baroni says.

There are also proposals of pizza, both classic and gourmet, cooked in the wood-fired brick oven. The desserts are handmade products made by the chef while the fresh pastries come directly from the award-winning De Bellis Pastry Shop in Rome. Prices range between €16 to €22 for the appetizers and first plates of pasta and risotto, and €24 to €28 for the main course. The wine list carries a good number of labels while the cocktail menu has some interesting proposals like: fico sour (homemade fig vodka, lemon, sugar syrup and egg white), daiquifico (homemade fig rum, lime juice and cinnamon syrup) and fig negroni (homemade fig gin, red vermoth, campari) as well as classic cocktails.