de_DEINEO is the fine-dining restaurant of the Anantara Palazzo Naiadi hotel, set on Rome’s grand Piazza della Repubblica, a few steps from the Baths of Diocletian. An intimate room of just 28 seats, it is overseen by executive chef Heros De Agostinis, who brings more than 25 years of experience in Michelin-starred kitchens, having worked alongside chefs including Heinz Beck, Joël Robuchon and Marc Veyrat. Raised in Rome with Italian and Eritrean heritage, De Agostinis draws on that dual background to shape the restaurant’s distinctive and personal point of view.
The cooking builds on Italian ingredients and tradition but weaves in global influences — spanning Eritrea, Asia and South America — through fermentation, spice and a range of international techniques, producing a style the restaurant describes as elegant, evocative and contemporary. A signature dish pairs maccheroncini al ferretto cooked in a Madeira reduction with an Eritrean-style ragout and long-aged Parmigiano, a plate that captures the whole idea in miniature. The wine programme is substantial, with a cellar of some 900 labels overseen by the sommelier team, and the service is polished to match the grandeur of the setting.
INEO holds one Michelin star and has been recognised as one of the more refined dining experiences in the Italian capital. Housed within a landmark 19th-century palazzo turned luxury hotel, the restaurant offers a quietly sophisticated counterpoint to Rome’s more traditional trattorie: personal in scale, ambitious in technique, and reflective of a chef whose cross-cultural story is central to the food. The result is a contemporary, cosmopolitan expression of Roman fine dining rather than a classic regional one — a modern table with a strong sense of its own identity, and a rewarding find in a city better known for its classics.