After a morning in Rome’s excellent modern art museum in the Borghese gardens we wanted some al fresco dining in the Borghese Gardens.* Il Casina del Lago is in a beaut spot – the terrace gives you a view of strollers, joggers, clowns (a real one with a red nose) and Marcello Mastroianni wannabes.

The food is simple and none the worse for that. A big Caesar salad was just what I needed. I probably didn’t need a bottle of (excellent) Chardonnay as much but I drank it with gusto. This was an excellent meal only slightly marred by the resto being yet another victim of the Italian Bog Seat Snatcher, so

7/10

* Obviously not on everyone’s top ten things to do in Rome but worth the detour if you’ve already seen the big stuff. The hang is hyper-thought through so that 19thC nationalist bombast is contextualised by being hung with less gung ho modern stuff. But some of that nineteenth century stuff is good too. A picture of a race meeting was po-mo in being an Italian picture in the French style of an imported English culture.

To see where else I’ve been click on the google map below.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=18qCyiPZih_gzhGG8mwfacnNRWD3b0bo&ehbc=2E312F

Food Italy Food Italian