Giada De Laurentiis' Family Has Been Eating At This Roman Restaurant For Decades

Every Roman has a time-honored, family-favored restaurant, and Italian-born American chef Giada de Laurentiis is no exception. In the first episode of her YouTube series, "Everyday Giada," she revealed that when visiting her hometown, she makes a mandatory stop at one specific spot — Nino. A 92-year-old dining spot in one of Rome's most exclusive neighborhoods, it has cemented its place in the De Laurentiis family — whose favorite order might come as a surprise.

The California-based culinary superstar may have made a name for herself sharing her easy-to-make Italian recipes to U.S. audiences, but she is a proud member of one of Italy's leading showbiz families. Giada's own late grandfather, film producer Dino De Laurentiis, is nothing short of an icon of 20th-century Italian cinema, obtaining 38 Academy Award nominations. It comes as little surprise that the De Laurentiis family would choose Nino, long cherished by both prominent locals and visitors, as their go-to spot. "My grandmother used to go here, and my mom goes here," Giada De Laurentiis remarked. "Every time I come at least one time, [for] at least one meal."

Located in the heart of the Eternal City, a mere stone's throw from the iconic Spanish Steps, Nino preserves an aura of what now seems like a bygone era. Despite being surrounded by an array of tourist traps and newer dining spots, the restaurant — with its lacquered wood-panelled interior, bustling local clientele, and bowtie-donning waiters — oozes with mid-century Italian charm. It's not hard to see why it holds such nostalgic value for De Laurentiis. "During my childhood, this was ... very much the meal," she said, pointing to the trays of pre-cooked side dishes, a staple in Roman trattorias. "You make [it] in advance and eat whenever, at room temp."

Nino opened in 1934 on Rome's Via Borgognona, one of the Italian capital's premier shopping thoroughfares. At the heyday of the city's Cinecittà film studios in the 1950s and the 1960s — to which the De Laurentiis family prominently contributed — you could rub shoulders here with the glitterati: Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn were among the street's most well-known visitors. Indeed, the great-grandson of the restaurant's founder, 24-year-old Carlo Guarnacci, told Food Republic how Nino has long been a haunt of both Hollywood and literal royalty: King Juan Carlos of Spain and Italian actress Sophia Loren are among its many well-known clients.

While the restaurant started off serving Tuscan food — namely the region's specialty T-bone steak, bistecca fiorentina, a Renaissance-era dish we still eat today — it now includes some of Rome's most well-known dishes, including Roman-style artichokes and lamb (abbacchio). Like many other traditional spots in the city, its menu varies day-to-day and by season. The De Laurentiis' family order, however, can be somewhat less orthodox, much like how pasta expert Giada herself foregoes ordering simple pasta when eating out. "It's our pollo al (chicken) curry," Guarnacci told Food Republic, which became a favorite a few years ago.