There are two characteristics of Rome that remain most impressed in those who visit it: art and food. What if there was a place where you could experience both, at the same time? On Via del Babuino, in the heart of the historic centre just a few steps from Piazza di Spagna, the bar-restaurant Canova Tadolini is a unique venue. It is located inside the original atelier of Canova and his pupil Tadolini.
The restaurant’s tables and chairs are set among busts of popes, wings of archangels, statues of kings, saints, and pagan gods. The studio’s artistic heritage counts around 400 works, including sketches, preparatory models, marble and bronze sculptures, anatomical exercises, tools of the trade, documents: a priceless heritage available to all, displayed inside the atelier-restaurant in a fascinatingly deliberate disorder that spans almost two centuries of sculpture.
Uno dei tavoli del Canova Tadolini (Foto dalla pagina Facebook del ristorante)
Waiting for a coffee or nibbling on a forkful of pasta, it is not difficult to imagine Canova and Tadolini hunched over in those same rooms, busy designing, sculpting, conceiving their works, a master and a pupil who still live on in the rooms thanks to the recovery of this unique venue. At Canova Tadolini you literally eat inside a museum and eat well.
The gastronomic proposal varies with different menus for lunch and dinner and according to the season, and ranges from the great classics of Roman cuisine – above all the trinity carbonara, amatriciana, cacio e pepe – to original and refined proposals, such as ricotta and spinach ravioli with pine nuts and basil pesto and Catalan-style lobster with a salad of red onions, cherry tomatoes and potatoes. Prices are medium-high (a first course ranges from €14 to €20) but you just need to look around to realise that it is an opportunity to eat in a place with a special charm. And for those who do not want to stop for an in-house meal, Canova Tadolini also has a bar on the ground floor that is excellent for breakfast and snacks, or for an unusual aperitif.
