After a soft opening last week, Il Forno Pizzeria is roaring along at The Pointe at Barclay. Chef Roberta Campani said the oven heats up to nearly 900’F and can fit about ten pizzas at once. The new restaurant follows in the Italian style of owner Ash Aziz’s two Osteria Cicchetti locations; but while the OC does offer Neapolitan-style pizza, at Il Forno they are front and center, served from the imposing gas-and-wood-fired oven in the middle of the restaurant.

Chef Roberta Campani called the oven “a real beast.” And though “the oven” – as Il Forno translates into English – dominates the room, it’s Campani and her dedication to Italian cuisine that really seem to power the restaurant. Campani, a native of Tuscany, spent 24 years working as a private chef in Wilmington; she also ran the popular Italian bakery La Gemma with her husband. Campani returned to Italy in 2015, and has spent that last two years working as a culinary tutor and guiding food tours around Tuscany.