Artisan sourdough pizzeria opens in Cirencester

Meaning 'bad boys' in Italian, Cattivo is the brainchild of old school friends Toby Baggot and Sam Lawson-King, who already own and run Roots + Seeds Kitchen Garden, which sits directly opposite the new pizzeria. 

Baggot and Lawson-King have teamed up with renowned chef-restaurateur Mike Robinson, part-owner of the Harwood Arms in Fulham, London's only Michelin-starred pub, and also part-owner of The Woodsman in Stratford-upon-Avon and The Elder in Bath. Cattivo is Robinson's first venture in Gloucestershire and in his hometown of Cirencester. 

Dining at Cattivo

Embracing classic Neapolitan pizza-making processes, Robinson's menu offers six 12" pizzas cooked in a Gozney wood-fired oven using kiln-dried oak from the nearby Bathurst Estate. Pizza bases will be made from homemade, 48-hour slow-fermented 'Biga' sourdough to create a nutty, chewy texture.

The pizzas are garnished with locally sourced and sustainable ingredients, including homemade venison 'nduja using deer raised on the local Bathurst Estate, honey from Robinson's own hives, Fior di Latte mozzarella from Glastonbury and locally foraged herbs and veg grown in the on-site kitchen garden. The menu also showcases Italian ingredients such as aged parmesan, burrata, single estate extra virgin olive oil and San Marzano tomatoes for the pizza sauce. Two dips and two desserts will also be offered. 

Making Cattivo's pizzas is pizzaiolo Francesco Fotia. Each one is made to order – no bookings or phone orders are taken, customers just turn up at the counter to either eat their pizza in or take it away, costing between £14 and £17 each. 

The restaurant's 'help yourself' fridge stocks locally made beers, ales, homemade and pre-bottled cocktails, including a spicy margarita and an old fashioned, as well as a short but carefully curated Italian wine list of three red and three white, along with locally made soft drinks.  

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