Il Clandestino, Portonovo

Even in the shade of the forest it was hot. The searing midday sun pumped the resin through the pine trees until it sweated from the needles and the bark and the cones, filling the drowsy air with its soporific bitter-sweetness. Even the birdsong had grown lazy in the heat. The network of dusty tracks through the trees occasionally emerged into secretive coves of dazzling white rock and surf, each presenting a different, slightly surreal little scene. Here a deserted little beach, save for a bicycle which had been propped against a signpost, a small towel draped across the crossbar. No sign of its owner. A ramshackle jumble of boats and trailers, kayaks and sailboards filled the next beach. A man wearing a heavy mask was busy welding, creating flashes and sparks brighter even than the rock. Another, wearing only trunks, his skin tanned to the colour of chestnuts, sanded the fibreglass hull of a dinghy.

In the next cove we came across the appropriately named Il Clandestino; a laid back but acclaimed shushi (sorry, susci) and tapas restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Just a pale blue shack with a few tables and chairs outside, laid bare to the sun. A lone customer, a single man wearing a crisp linen suit and a panama hat sat at one of the tables sipping a glass of ruby red liquid and gazing out to sea. The man who served our drinks now lay on a large flat rock on the beach, apparently asleep. It was like a scene from a Buñuel film. We sipped the drinks we had ordered and felt a little out of place. And very hot, though it seemed uncool to sweat.

We later learned that Il Clandestino is owned by Moreno Cedroni, who holds two Michelin stars. Now if only we'd gone back for dinner...

Il Clandestino, Localita Baia di Portonovo 60100 Ancona

Tel 071 801 422

Il Clandestino