Pasta or pizza or pizza and pasta sums up too many so-called Italian restaurants' menus with nary a foray into what this fabulous country has to offer.
There is no haute cuisine in Italy, only home cooking or cucina casalinga, each region having its own specialities. Traditionally, northern Italy does not go in for pasta dishes, sun-dried tomatoes, rocket or mozzarella; these belong more to the south. There is no truer saying, 'families who eat together, stay together,' Italians sharing food brought on large platters to the dinner table for each member to help themselves.
Villa Romana exudes this kind of natural hospitality thanks to bona fide Italians, Maurizio from Bologna and Alberico from Rome. Together they set up the restaurant, in an old coach house on Fareham's High Street complete with old beams and interior bricks, eight years ago. Although the head chef is British and the sous chef Albanian, both have lived and worked in Italy, their bosses equally intent on keeping up standards by introducing them to dishes they both were brought up on.
They also import many of their Italian produce directly from Italy, their Protected Origin Parma ham cured on the bone for a minimum of 12 months, the sweet-salty flavour enhanced by this lengthy curing. Of course you won't find one of those 1,000 counterfeit non-Parma hams confiscated by the Italian police a few months back on these premises; these Italians take their food seriously.
The menu, divided into starters, pasta, fish, main courses, desserts and specials, covers many parts of Italy, not just Bologna and Rome. Crescentini, small square warm flat bread, from Bologna, is served with Parma ham and olives, involtino alla Romana, rolled veal escalope with ham and mushrooms, is a Roman dish. Risotto alla verdure, rice with peas, and fegato alla Veneziana, calves' liver with onions and rosemary are both from the Venetian region. Fish choices abound here too with calamari; marinated tuna; king prawns in garlic; mussels with tomato, onion and white wine and a large selection of simply cooked fish.
Naturally I had to have the Parma ham and the crescentini, the latter warm, slightly sweet bread an excellent addition to the cured meat, by far the best I've had in the area. A fish platter followed with tuna, salmon, mussels, calamari and a large Madagascan prawn which dominated the plate. All were simply grilled or pan-fried in butter, a large wedge of lemon all that was needed. Slightly over-cooked broccoli and asparagus came with this, the potato slices, however, cooked in buttery rosemary juices, giving the illusion that I'd somehow travelled to Italy and was sitting in one of its genuine trattorie. Which, indeed I had, without getting on an orange-coloured plane or having to negotiate travel-torture Heathrow.
The most creamy of cheesecakes followed, its buttery biscuit base and lemony filling another reason to fly down the M27 rather than to fly to Tuscany.
What makes Villa Romana special is the sheer exuberance of its owners. They want you to have a good time in their home, the music – Italian tre tenore-type – naturally adding the atmosphere. And, of course the genuine food, a rarity in this part of the woods.

Villa Romana, The Old Coach House, High Street, Fareham, PO16 7BB. 01329 825316.
Open: Midday-2.30pm Mon-Fri for lunch and 6.30pm-9.30pm for dinner Mon-Sat. Closed on Sundays.
Food: ****
Service: *****
Atmosphere: ****
Disabled access: Yes.
How to get there: Exit the Fareham exit on the M27. At the Delme roundabout, take the third exit on to East Street then on to the High Street. The restaurant is 200 metres on the right. Car park. Fareham bus station is a short walk away in West Street.

Diners' View
Julia and David Pickford, from Gosport: 'We've been here several times in a large party and are trying it out just the two of us,' Julia said 'and it's just as warm and inviting, the owners just lovely, kind, generous hosts.'
'I usually have the calves' liver or the lemon veal with either a tiramisu or excellent dolcelatte cheese to follow,' David added.