Inside the fight to save La Famiglia, the smart set's favourite family-run restaurant

Everyone has their own memories of La Famiglia. The familiar blue-and-white walls of this Langton Street stalwart, tucked just off the far end of the King’s Road by World’s End, are adorned with portraits of founder Alvaro Maccioni and the restaurant’s regulars, from Princess Diana – who was pictured outside after a lunch with Prince William in her final photo with her son before her death – to Ken Bates and photographer Lord Snowdon, who was once gifted a birthday cake in the shape of a camera. For 50 years, the toast of high society and A-listers alike have made their way to La Famiglia for date nights and birthday celebrations, with the current owner, Alvaro’s daughter, Marietta Marccioni, weaving her way through bustling tables serving up Pappardelle al cinghiale and Spaghetti vongole.

But two nights ago, the regular crowd gathered for a very different reason. Emotions ran high at the Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall, where the very future of this beloved institution hangs in the balance. Following a noise complaint in 2024 from a neighbour, whose rented flat overlooks the garden, La Famiglia is facing a battle against operating restrictions that would see the garden close at 9 pm. Staff have since stopped performing ‘Happy Birthday’ to customers sat in the garden, but with the potential loss of up to 80 covers a night, there are more than traditions at stake in this legal battle.

‘What happens if the licence is reduced? We have 60 members of staff here,’ asks Fabio, Marietta’s partner, who oversees operations at the restaurant, when I visit the day after the hearing to meet the family, including the couple’s son, Sidney, and some of the team. ‘The stress is unbearable at the moment; we really wanted this to be over yesterday for Marietta. Understandably, she is very emotional, and we want it over for the business.’

The hearing was adjourned after the complainant failed to turn up, citing ‘medical reasons’. Marietta was in tears in the Town Hall, where the loyal supporters of the restaurant were up in arms over the delay. Since the feud began, 247 letters have been written defending La Famiglia, with Eric Clapton, Bond producer Barbara Broccoli and Bryan Ferry all voicing their outrage, as well as neighbour Ted Morrison, son of society interior designer Penny Morrison.

Marietta was unable to join our conversation at the restaurant because she is currently caring for her elderly mother, but she later told me that La Famiglia was her father’s ‘baby’. After making his name in the ‘60s at La Terraza, Alvaro founded the Tuscan-inspired eatery in 1975, coming to Chelsea ‘with nothing’ and building it into what it is today, before he died in 2013 and passed ownership on to Marietta.

‘I have been coming here since I was 11. I have worked here for 32 years now; it’s my passion, it’s my legacy. My Dad taught me everything I know about this restaurant. It’s everything to me. I can’t imagine not having it,’ she says. ‘It’s very sad that we have got to this. I am so lucky to have all of this support. These customers have grown old with me and still come to see me. It means everything to me. I have known some of them since I was seven, when I met them at my father’s earlier restaurants.’

Indeed, it is inconceivable to imagine Langton Street without La Famiglia. Long-time Chelsea resident, financier Willie van Straubenzee remembers an usher's lunch at the restaurant, in 1999 ahead of model and actress Catrina Skepper’s wedding to Count Alessandro Guerrini-Maraldi. ‘We had this fantastic usher’s lunch, and were then picked up by a stretch limousine which got stuck on one of the speed bumps in a nearby street,’ he recalls. ‘We were all then late for the wedding, and the guests had to seat themselves.’ Another loyal customer tells me that ‘the garden is what makes it; those tables are always in demand, it’s really where you want to be.’

Of course, the most famous regular at La Famiglia has to have been Diana, Princess of Wales, who Marietta recalls fondly. ‘I remember her arriving on a Sunday with the boys,’ she says. ‘It was busy, with people talking and laughing, children and families, and kids, and when she walked in – there was just silence, until she sat down. She always remembered my daughter Amy’s name. She was a nice lady.’ Guiding me through the restaurant on a tour of those famous portraits, Fabio explained how Alvaro used to keep a fresh red rose in her memory, perched in the alcove above the table where she used to sit. It’s a tradition that continues to this day.

The date of the next hearing will be announced shortly. For now, Marietta and Fabio, their family, and the staff say they ‘have to remain positive’. So too do their many loyal customers, all of whom will be hoping to eat at La Famiglia for many more years to come.