Il Portico has been family-run on Kensington High Street since 1967. Founded by Pino Chiavarini, the restaurant grew from one family’s journey from Emilia-Romagna to London and has now continued through four generations of the Chiavarini family.
The story begins with Pino Chiavarini, who left the Apennines near Parma after the war and came to Britain in search of work. After time in Cumbria, working in the mines he moved to London and in 1967 opened Il Portico on Kensington High Street.
Years of hard work, sacrifice and careful saving made that dream a reality.
At a time when authentic regional Italian cooking was still relatively unfamiliar in Britain, Pino introduced London to the honest, generous food of Emilia-Romagna.
He never believed Italian food needed to be complicated. Fresh handmade pasta, traditional recipes and genuine hospitality were the foundations of the restaurant from the very beginning. Every guest was welcomed not simply as a customer, but as someone invited to share the warmth of an Italian family table in Kensington.
His commitment to authentic regional cooking quickly earned Il Portico a reputation that spread far beyond Kensington. What began as one man’s dream became one of London’s best-loved independent Italian restaurants.
Today, Il Portico remains the best-known Italian restaurant in Kensington, welcoming regular guests from across London. Over the decades, Il Portico has become woven into the fabric of Italian restaurants Kensington and beyond.
Many of the guests who first discovered the restaurant in the 1960s and 1970s still dine with us today, bringing their children and now even their grandchildren. Friendships have been built around our tables through birthdays, anniversaries, business lunches and family celebrations.
That loyalty is something we never take for granted.
While London has changed enormously over the past six decades, Il Portico has remained true to the values established by Pino: authentic regional cooking, warm hospitality and making every guest feel genuinely at home.
Today, we are proud to remain what we have always been — a quintessential Kensington neighbourhood restaurant.
Today, James and Marianna continue the work that Pino began almost sixty years ago.
The recipes, philosophy and values remain the same. Fresh pasta is still made with care, seasonal ingredients are chosen with respect, and every guest is welcomed with the same warmth that has defined Il Portico since 1967.
Although generations have changed, the ambition remains exactly as it was on the day the Italian restaurant first opened in Kensington High Street: to offer authentic regional Italian food prepared with integrity and served with genuine hospitality.
Nearly sixty years after Pino first realised his dream, Il Portico remains proudly independent and family run.
Whether you’re joining us before a concert at the Royal Albert Hall, after an exhibition at Olympia, or simply meeting family and friends for lunch, we hope you’ll feel part of a story that began in a small village in the mountains near Parma and continues every day around our tables in Kensington.
We look forward to welcoming you as proud ambassadors of the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna.
