Brescia’s been getting tons of love this year, along with Bergamo, as the Lombard cities share the title of European Culture Capital 2023 – the singular tense is deliberate to show the solidarity between the cities, two of the pandemic’s hardest-hit Italian cities.
If you’re heading to Brescia this year (or anytime in the future), don’t confine yourself to the city proper. This is Italy, after all, so it’s no surprise that treasures abound beyond the confines of the major cities. San Faustino is perched in the leafy hills of Bione northeast of Brescia, and there you’ll find Rock Pizzeria, opened by the Zanoni family in 1978. Today, Patrick fires up the pies while his brother Gianluca oversees the dining room.
Since inheriting the kitchen, Patrick whittled down the menu so he could hone in on crafting quality-centric pies. His gourmet-style pizzas, which are sliced into eight pieces, have a base of varied sour-dough flours, like semi-wholemeal, corn, barley, and rice, and the result is crispy, sturdy, but also soft and incredibly, as the Italians would say, digestible. In addition to the dough, he takes great care in ingredient selection, sourcing products from local farms, artisan dairies, and ethical butchers. His effort hasn’t gone unnoticed, as the restaurant has earned a two spicchi (slices) rating from the Gambero Rosso guide.
Gianluca, a sommelier, has curated an extensive list of 300 Italian and international wines—a rarity for a pizzeria. Their sisters Liliana and Laura manage the three local outposts of Gelateria Rock and chip in on dessert.
In honor of Brescia’s status as the 2023 European Capital of Culture, Rock has launched an homage to the territory. The gourmet pizza tasting menu for two showcases the typical products of the valleys and the lake, recounting Brescia’s culinary tradition via an array of toppings, like local caviar and Garda lemons, Bagòss cheese, and lake sardines. The menu is for two people and includes two of each of the following items.
Pa’ e Salam (homemade sandwiches with local salami)
Pike alla gardesana pizza with caper polenta chips
Sarde in saor pizza with caviar and Franciacorta wine gel on whole-wheat dough
“I wanted to be a malfatto (badly done) Bagòss pizza”, fried pizzas stuffed with wild herbs and cheese and served with Bagòss sauce
The Bomb, schiacciate with pestum, formaggella fondue, and Alpine sow-thistle
Spiedino Bresciano (Brescian-style skewered beef) revisited on corn-flour dough pizza
Manzo all’olio (beef in oil, a local classic) revised on corn-flour dough pizza
Garda lemon sorbet
Fritura’ de lat (fried milk) with caramelized nashi apple and vanilla ice cream
The new Brescia by Rock gourmet pizza tasting menu debuted on February 15, the feast day of St. Faustino, Brescia’s patron saint, and will remain on the menu until Easter. After Easter, the menu will be available every night except Saturday by reservation only.
The menu is for two people and costs 35€ per person. For those who want to delve further into the territory, Gianluca has designed three different three-glass wine pairing options to go along with it:
The Garda Valleys Route – 15€
The Franciacorta Route – 30€
The Brescia Tour Route – 35€
