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The Strong Island Almanac Presents: Circolo Pizzer...

The Strong Island Almanac Presents: Circolo Pizzeria

With Portsmouth awash with large chain pizza delivery places you tend to forget what ‘real pizza’ should taste and look like. At Circolo you won’t find a hotdog or tasteless plastic cheese stuffed in your crust but a light crisp handmade truly Italian dough. If that doesn’t inspire you then the relaxed, bright, modern vintage interior might persuade you to stay for awhile, grab a beer or coffee and order a slice of heaven!

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Owner Gianni showed us round and talked about the interior design, pizza and his family’s history with the city.

 The interior was designed by myself. We were lucky that when we pulled off the old plasterboard and found underneath the original tiles from when it was a butchers in the 50’s we were on to a good start. People thought I was mad wanting to keep them but I’m glad I did! They were a great find as these sort of tiles were in keeping with the style I wanted to go for. With the furniture and fittings, I tend to collect a lot of different things and can’t resist buying things that I like or  think are designed well. So when I found the right location for the pizzeria I finally had somewhere to put all the pieces I’d collected. All the fixtures and fittings I have a bought over the years from vintage fairs, second hand shops, Ebay and the occasional auction. The marble work tops were saved from my grandads’ ice cream parlour he opened in the 30’s in  Guildhall Square. There is even a section dedicated to it in the Portsmouth Museum, so it was great to bring them back to life after years of being sat in the garden. There are still loads of peoples’ names engraved into the marble from all those years ago.

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Tell us about your pizza?

The most important thing when making a pizza is the dough, which we make fresh everyday. Every pizza chef has a slightly different recipe for making dough. They are all very similar but everyone has a slight variation on the text book recipe. We all know what the Italians are like!

With pizza, as with all Italian food, less is more. We use fresh ingredients and as many Italian products as we can get hold of, which we get delivered everyday. By combining three or four simple but fresh ingredients you get a delightful end product. Unlike the big pizza chains where everything is frozen and loaded up with processed food.

The final thing that makes a great pizza is the oven. For an authentic Italian pizza you need a stone bake oven to get a beautiful crispy base. We imported ours from Italy. It cooks the pizzas beautifully.

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 Verrechia’s in Guildhall Square. 14 October 1959.

What inspired you to open Circolo?

 I opened Circolo as have spent a lot of time in Italy as my mothers’ side of the family is Italian and I still have a lot of family who live there. My grandad came over from Italy before the war and opened Portsmouth’s first ice cream parlour and coffee shop Verrecchia’s, so I guess it is in the blood! In Italy, there are pizzerias everywhere.  You can go grab a quick pizza and a beer or even just a slice; I really enjoyed that when I lived there and missed not being able to do that in Portsmouth. I thought the city was missing something like that, so when I found a good location I took the plunge and got to work.

Do you have any plans for the future?

Plans for the future?! Well it is early days but I would like to open another few places out of town but I must be mad as there is a lot of hard work and stress involved.

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Circolo has a Facebook page which is updated regularly and is full of glowing reviews.

You will find them at 78 Osbourne Road and can contact them on 02392 349 079.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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  1. Translater

    19 December

    Curious choice of name, circolo means circle, shouldn’t it be circolare, meaning circular?

  2. Stuart B

    19 December

    Another nice piece! Ha ha bad pun I’m sorry. I’ve eaten there once and it’s an awesome venue and I love the pizzas. A hundred times better than Dominos!!

    Nice photos too!

  3. this place looks so amazing, so bummed it was around when i lived in southsea. definitely paying a visit in february though.

  4. Bex

    3 January

    So glad to see places like this with real character, authenticity and local links popping up in Portsmouth. Will definitely be paying a visit.

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