Giovanni Pilu and Marilyn Annecchini are charting a new course across the harbour. On Friday 5 December 2025, the duo will lift the curtain on Flaminia, a light-filled Italian dining room perched above Circular Quay – and their first new opening in more than two decades.

Credit: Nikki To

If Pilu at Freshwater is anchored in Sardinia, Flaminia widens the lens, casting its gaze across Italy’s great port cities. Cagliari, Naples, Genoa, Venice, Palermo – each leaves a subtle imprint on the menu. A crudo bar kicks things off with oysters, scallops and the day’s freshest catch, there’s antipasti made for sharing and seafood pastas to compliment the waterside location. Expect Sardinian Piccolo Fritto Misto, Paccheri allo Scoglio and a slow-roasted suckling pig from Cagliari, a dish closely tied to Giovanni’s heritage. Dolci stay sun-soaked and traditional: Crema Fritta and Pandolce Genovese.

“At Flaminia, we’re celebrating the kind of food that has always connected people,” says Pilu. “The ports of Italy have their own rhythm – bold flavours, honest cooking and a hospitality that makes you linger. We wanted to bring that feeling to Sydney’s spectacular harbour.”

Credit: Nikki To

The drinks list keeps the coastal thread running. Wines trace Italy’s shoreline from Liguria to Sicily, with a spotlight on Sardinia’s native varieties, and the cocktails have a sense of fun – from La Via della Seta out of Venice to a Pesto Bloody Mary from Genova and a Mirto Rosso Sour from Cagliari.

The restaurant’s name nods to the ship that brought the Pilu family from Italy to Sydney in 1959 – a quiet but meaningful thread woven through the space. Designed by Studio Gram, the room unfolds in soft timber, textured stone and shoreline tones, a dining room that shifts with the harbour light.

Credit: Nikki To

“It represents our journey, leaving one coast behind and arriving on another, and everything that’s come from it,” says Pilu. “Naming the restaurant Flaminia is a way of honouring that story of food, family and finding a new home.”

Flaminia also marks the Pilu team’s first collaboration with Table For, Accor’s new in-house food and beverage group. It joins El Vista and Bar Allora as part of a growing stable of venues shaping the hotel giant’s evolving hospitality vision.

Credit: Nikki To

For Annecchini, the heart of Flaminia is its sense of ease. “At Flaminia, we wanted to create a place people want to come back to often – relaxed, welcoming, and full of life… a more playful, approachable take on Italian hospitality, where quality comes without formality and every visit feels like a Mediterranean afternoon.”

Flaminia
Level 2, 61 Macquarie Street, Sydney
Pullman Quay Grand Sydney Harbour
flaminia.com.au