There’s a great lunch offer, starting at one course for £6.95, two for £9.95 and three for £12.95 from the specials board, but we tucked into a couple of panzerotti each (£4.95) while we looked over the menu. Made with pizza dough, these little parcels are stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and ricotta made down in Somerset by Tom at Westcombe Diary (whose wife, Melanie, runs a hair salon a few doors down from here on Walcot Street), fried, and topped with tomato sauce and garnished with fresh basil. Light, flaky and oozing stringy cheese, they provided the perfect precursor to our meal.

Known for her love of salads, Lorena couldn’t resist the insalata Caprese (£6.95) to start, despite a tempting antipasti menu including polpette a sugo meatballs (£7.25), arancini (£5.75) and macaroni cheese frittatine (£4.95, a classic street food dish from Naples). How good can a salad be? Very, as it goes. The buffalo mozzarella was milky, creamy, clean, soft and yielding all at the same time, and perfectly dressed with its tasty tomatoes and peppery leaves.

Never one to miss out on multiple carbs, I ordered the special – lobster fettuccine (£8.95). Dani gets his lobsters in from Newlyn daily (the same cove of Cornwall where you’ll find the best crabs in Britain), and makes a concentrated lobster oil from the cooked shells. The result is al dente pasta coated with a light, fresh, gently spiced sauce with an intense seafood smack, the lobster pieces sweet and tender.

You might be asking yourself how could I then, possibly, fit in a 12” pizza after this? Well, let’s clear some things up, shall we? Firstly, I am a professional eater – it’s my job, nothing at all to do with greed. (Move on.) Secondly, these guys are professional pizzaioli. They were trained by Gianluca Donzelli, a finalist in the International Pizza Championships and baker to Don Alfonso 1890, the first restaurant in Southern Europe to gain three Michelin stars. All of the pizza dough here is made to Gianluca’s recipe, and only last week the team’s efforts were rewarded in the PAPA Pizza Chef of the Year 2014 regional finals. In short, it would be rude not to.

There are classics and specials, but I’m led to design my own, chosing a combo of spicy salami, gorgonzola and mushrooms (£12.95). The dough is crisp on the outside but fluffy and light where it counts, and the toppings taste as good as they sound. High-quality ingredients, cooked simply, served fast.

Lorena tucked into a vegetarian lasange (£11.95), layered with famous San Marzano tomato sauce. It was so good that it was praised twice – as Lorena’s own bambino, H, finished it off at home later that night. There are burgers and paninis, too, but convention dictates that, after three savoury courses, one should go sweet. So we did – sharing a torta Caprese (£6.25), a seductive combination of dark chocolate and almonds.

Food is religion for the Italians, and while this humble eatery might not be a temple, it’s a place where I’d feel comfortable praying any time of the day. I’m already planning my next pilgrimage...