The Fregene beach restaurant where you can enjoy yourself year-round
Pop-worthy seafood dishes, feet in the sand, and a consistently warm welcome. La Scialuppa da Salvatore in Fregene is the place on the Roman coast that never tires of us, summer or winter.
It's noon on a sweltering June day. One of those days when it's impossible to resist the heat that grips Rome. So what do you do? You escape to the sea. Sitting at one of the many tables on the Scialuppa beach, with your feet in the sand and a light breeze, you almost forget the 37 degrees Celsius it feels like. Filippo, the head waiter, smiles and greets you warmly, as he has every other time we've decided to dine at this solid restaurant (with a beach club) on the Roman coast, open year-round. And what can we say, lunch here on a sunny Sunday in December is just as satisfying.
La Scialuppa da Salvatore in Fregene: a seaside restaurant open year-round
But as we write these lines, summer is in full swing, and—like all seaside resorts—Fregene is changing pace: the beach is filling up, and so are the tables. And even at Scialuppa da Salvatore, the pace is picking up. There are plenty of seats, around 200 at full capacity, and the flow is steady, but the quality remains stable. Perhaps now we'll have to contend with a little longer wait between courses.
At the helm of the kitchen is chef Fabio Di Vilio, who over the years has developed a solid, enjoyable, and uncluttered offering. After stints in fine dining and an initial phase where he experimented with fermentation and more advanced techniques, he has now found an immediate balance: clear, easily understandable, and flavorful seafood cuisine. "The goal is for the dishes to arrive at the table and be explained in just a few words," says the chef. And often, we might add, not even one is needed.
Fabio Di Vilio's pop cuisine at Scialuppa da Salvatore in Fregene
La Scialuppa offers several different spaces, from the indoor dining room to the covered veranda overlooking the sea. Outside, there's an uncovered wooden deck (with plenty of umbrellas for shade), tables right on the beach, dining under wooden "huts," and a kiosk for sunset aperitifs. And if you're looking for a more intimate space, a little further along is the turret, a slightly raised structure designed for private events (reservations required).
The cuisine, as we were saying. The food here is excellent, as we've seen many times. The menu features classics that are always in high demand in a seaside restaurant: spaghetti with lupini beans (17 euros), strozzapreti alla pescatora (the house must-have, 19 euros), raw fish in salt and oil, oysters, and plenty of grilled seafood, from the catch to molluscs and crustaceans. Everything is very straightforward, with fresh fish selected daily from the auctions in Fiumicino, Anzio, and Porto Santo Stefano.
Next to it, there is the “Senza spine” section, born a few years ago from a summer collaboration at Parco Appio which Di Vilio then made a permanent part of the menu. It is a pop and convivial proposal: dishes to be placed in the middle and shared, also to be eaten with your hands. Octopus in a bombetta version with bacon and sweet and sour sauce (15), cheese and egg balls with baby octopus sauce (15), rosetta with octopus 'nduja and stracciatella (14), red tuna empanada (16). And then some proposals which, depending on the season, make their entrance on the menu. This summer, for example, there are the excellent linguine with pepper scapece and mussels (16), a tribute to the chef's grandmother: served cold, tasty and sure to make you ask for seconds.
The service, the wine cellar, and the atmosphere at Scialuppa da Salvatore in Fregene
The dining room staff is young but well-trained. The aforementioned manager Filippo Lucantoni keeps things together with pace and attention, without ever overdoing it. The wine list is well-curated, and we've appreciated its evolution over the years: many natural (clean) wines, a good selection of Lazio labels, Italian and French sparkling wines, orange juices, and light reds best served chilled.
To manage this huge machine, Fabio Di Vilio has assembled a great team, even in the kitchen: "At first, I tended to do everything myself, supervising everything," he tells us. "Over time, I realized the guys were working well, and I loosened my grip: now they run independently, and I'm proud of that." This has allowed him to dedicate himself to other projects, such as managing Scoglio in Maccarese (a seafood trattoria, also on the beach), and during the winter months, travel to Abruzzo, where he manages two mountain refuges—Montefreddo and Amarena, both in Ovindoli—serving traditional Abruzzese cuisine.
And in the meantime, he's making plans for the future, like opening a permanent spin-off of "Senza Spine" in Rome. And we can't wait.
Salvatore's Lifeboat. Via Silvi Marina 69, Fregene (RM). Tel. 06 66560002. Website.
