In 2022, the Michelin inspectors awarded Acquolina its second star — and with it, Daniele Lippi was confirmed as one of Italy's most important young chefs. He is 30-something, Tuscan by birth, obsessive about the sea. His restaurant occupies the dining room of The First Roma Arte Hotel, a quietly luxurious property just west of Piazza del Popolo, away from the tourist routes and the noise of the historic center. This deliberate remove is part of the point. You are not here for spectacle. You are here for the fish.
Lippi's cooking is technically immaculate and conceptually original. Where other Italian seafood restaurants reach for richness — butter, cream, accumulated luxury — he works with restraint. His plates are assembled with the logic of a painter: each element placed with intention, each flavour chosen to isolate and amplify the ingredient at the centre. A langoustine appears with a vinaigrette of its own coral. Baccalà is deconstructed and rebuilt. Sea urchin is woven through pasta with the kind of precision that makes you set down your fork and simply look.
The dining room matches the mood: elegant without ostentation, the hotel's art collection providing context without distraction. Service is unhurried, knowledgeable, and genuinely warm — the team here understands that the meal is a collaboration between kitchen, front of house, and guest. They do not perform service. They deliver it.
Two tasting menus are offered, both paired with a wine selection that draws from Italian small producers and the classic cellars of Burgundy and Champagne. The sommelier is exceptional. Allow the pairing. At this level of cooking, eating without the wine is seeing with one eye closed.