Madre Lievito opened in August 2019 in the former Feliciano site on Gilbert Street.

Step onto swish pink-marble tiles and move through blush-pink surrounds that slope up to an all-blue kitchen. There, a Madre (Virgin Mary) statue takes pride of place (alongside a second, which chef Ettore Bertonati bought to look over the kitchen).

It’s from the same crew as Pizzateca , but the pies here have more in common with the pizzas of Bertonati’s hometown Naples than Pizzateca’s “Oztalian” ones. The dough combines Tipo 00 flour, Tipo 1 wholegrain flour, seawater (imported from the Mediterranean) and a sourdough starter – and its salt content is almost half of that in conventional dough. Then there’s the sauce – at Madre Lievito (Italian for "mother dough") the sauce is canned San Marzano tomatoes, hand-crushed and salted – that’s it. What results is fresh, and acidic.

The pizzas are minimally topped: choose between a classic marinara or margherita; a pork sausage and fried eggplant number; and more. The pizza montenara is something you won’t find at many other pizzerias around town. The dough is half-cooked in the deep-fryer, topped, then finished off in the Naples-imported wood oven (which also turns out sourdough made with seawater). Get it with Napoletana sauce, fior di latte and basil; slow cooked beef, onion and pecorino; or mortadella, ricotta and pistachio crumble. There’s also a single monthly pasta dish.

The drinks list is a manageable one. Wines are Italian-made or Italian varietals, locally made, and all come by the glass and bottle. And the tight Italo-centric cocktail list leans on local spirits.