Solo Per Due, or “Just for Two,” is the smallest restaurant in the world. With only one table, the restaurant seats only two people at a time in complete and utter privacy. According to the restaurant’s website, there are “no queues, no turns, and no waiting; all our attention is dedicated to the two people who have booked.”
Nestled in the Sabine Hills of Vacone, Italy–a small village in the province of Rieti, in central Italy, 42.25 miles north of Rome–Solo Per Due is world famous. Guests are picked up in a Ferrari and driven to the restaurant along winding roads lined with cypress and palm trees. Upon arrival, guests are led down a path illuminated by torches and past Roman busts towards the 19th century building.
The restaurant is situated in an historical location complete with the remains of a Roman country villa that once belonged to the Latin poet Horace and the nearby Bandusia Fountain, while the outstretching valley is dotted by olive groves and vineyards.
Before going into the restaurant for dinner, guests can relax in the shade of a vine and enjoy the scenic view across the valley on warm days or settle in front of a roaring log fire on cold winter evenings. Here, guests can read the libro dei pensieri, or “book of thoughts,” where couples from all over the world have recorded their stories.
The dining area contains only one table and two chairs, while the rest of the room is covered in personalized art, statues, and flowers, along with the meal and music customers choose when they make their reservation. The tuxedoed Solo Per Due waiter can also be summoned at any time with the ring of a silver bell. The menu is entirely based on the use of fresh and high-quality ingredients, chosen according to the season, and features fine Italian cuisine and wines.
Solo Per Due is owned by Giovanni di Claudio and his father–and waiter–Remo. The restaurant serves one couple at lunch and one at dinner and already has bookings into 2016.
Open year-round, bookings are accepted only by email ([email protected]) and can be made for any time in the future. Guests are asked to fax a confirmation seven days before their visit, allowing the restaurant to confirm all of the couple’s personalized details including a meat or fish menu, the kind of event being celebrated, the names of the two guests, background music, and the arrival time.
The price of a meal at Solo Per Due costs €250 per person ($320 per person/$640 per couple), while champagne, fine wines and special flower arrangements are excluded from the price. Personal transportation from Rome is an additional €250-€590 ($320-$756) and an optional three levels of fireworks can add another €1,900-€3,200 ($2,437-$4,104). A nearby overnight cottage stay in “La Casetta” is €90 per person ($115 per person/$230 per couple) and includes breakfast.
Solo Per Due also offers its own Oleum olive oil exclusively to Solo Per Due’s guests for €40 a bottle ($51 a bottle) and does not accept credit cards.
Photos by touch.abcnyheter.no
