MAXXI is the new museum of Roma and a creation of world-famous architect and Pritzker winner, Zaha Hadid. It is located in Quartiere Flaminio, near the Tevere and it blends perfectly with the old traditional and conservative neighborhood. MA (Museum of Art) XXI (twenty first century) is a beautiful work of art, it took only 10 years from bid to finish (a miracle!) and it opened in 2010 to international acclaim. I was finally able to see it last week. YES, beautiful!
But my biggest surprise was the restaurant, located in an existing renovated building in front of the museum. Cool and clean, with great and smiling hosts, they serve buffet brunch at a fixed price (17 Euros, when I went). They only use ingredients form Lazio (our kilometer zero when we are in Roma. Do they shop at Circo Massimo?). Fragrant breads, fresh salads and puntarelle, mozzarella di bufala, pecorino romano, perfectly cooked roast beef, fresh fruit, and the homemade crostate and desserts… it felt like Ms. Hadid envisioned the menu, too. I couldn’t believe I never heard of such a nice food place. Indeed, the only thing I could find online is this brief description of the operations (MAXXI21 Caffetteria e ristorante) in the same MAXXI website, in the middle of the page. So, now you know. When you go to Roma, go to see MAXXI and make sure you go at lunch time!
this sounds like, as the guidebooks say, “worth the detour”!
Yes! But everybody goes to Roma, therefore, not much of a “detour”. You’re already there! I would call it a “retiming”, meaning you need to go to MAXXI around lunch time! Let me know how you like it! Grazie!!!
The cafeteria looks really neat. I hope I could visit it one day once I went to Rome.