I recently spent five days on the Lazio coast in Nettuno. I asked my Insta friends and followers for recommendations on where to eat, and they came through! One place was suggested by three different people, and that place was Zero Miglia.

Jeremy and I went twice in the five nights that we stayed in Nettuno, and both meals were excellent. Read on for all the details.

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Zero Miglia fish restaurant in Nettuno, Italy

On our first night, which was a Sunday, we happened upon Zero Miglia as we strolled around Nettuno’s medieval borgo, the city’s oldest neighborhood and certainly one of the highlights to see if you’re there. In fact, the restaurant is located in Palazzo Orsini, one of the borgo’s most important buildings. It was built by Nicola Orsini towards the end of the 1300s, serving first as a fortress and subsequently for royal and then religious purposes before being purchased by the Borghese family in 1831. They still own the building today.

We decided we’d try our luck for dinner, but we were quickly turned away, because they were al completo (all booked). They were closed on Monday, but on Tuesday, we managed to book a table for two.

One of the friends who recommended Zero Miglia told us that they had a fixed menu that was great, but that it was A LOT of food. We hesitated at first, but then when we read that the chef buys whatever isn’t sold in the daily auction at the fish markets in Anzio and makes up the menu from that. That means that Zero Miglia is fighting waste, and that the fish is at its freshest, being caught in the water “just outside of the restaurant’s walls” as they say on their website.

How could we resist?

We asked the waiter if we could have any information about the menu ahead of time, and he said he could only tell us what the two primi piatti were. The first was spaghetti con le telline (spaghetti with wedge clams) and the other was a calamarata con pesce e pomodoro (large pasta rings with fish and tomato). We said yes and ohhh yes.

Spaghetti with wedge clams at Zero Miglia in Nettuno, Italy — Spaghetti con le telline

Our menu started with six appetizers (yes, six!). They consisted of a few different types of fish resting on a bed of leeks, baccalà (salt cod) with tomato and olives, bruschetta with octopus in tomato sauce, the most tender, mild tuna with marinated red onions, and a few small fried fish.

Tuna with red onion at Zero Miglia in Nettuno, Italy — Best tuna everrrrrr

Then, the pasta arrived. The spaghetti with clams was over the top – whatever they tossed the pasta with – olive oil? butter? white wine? all three? was perfect, and the tiny telline were abundant and grit free.

I didn’t even get a photo of the second pasta, so that should tell you how fast we ate it.

We were getting full at that point, but we managed to eat the two other fish that came out – one breaded, one not, and we nearly ate all of the fried totani (a type of squid) that arrived as well.

So, in all, we had six appetizers, two pastas, two fish and fried squid for…wait for it…€25 each. I don’t know if there’s a better deal in all of Lazio.

After the taste of spaghetti con le telline on Tuesday, I had to have a whole plate before we went back to Rome, so we booked another table at Zero Miglia for Thursday night. Note that on the à la carte menu, the spaghetti are made with regular clams, not wedges, so they’re larger.

Spaghetti with clams at Zero Miglia in Nettuno, Italy — Mm-mm-mmmm

They were exactly what I wanted to end our little beach stay – the perfect combination of salt and sea. Jeremy got another pasta dish that came with mixed shellfish and tomato. He gobbled his down faster than I did.

If you’re in Nettuno, don’t miss Zero Miglia.

Can’t get a table? Try Zero Miglia’s takeaway spot, which is right around the corner from the restaurant.