Following the unparalleled success of Pizzeria Franco, which was acquired and ran by Sami and Laura Wasif in the 1980s, a new opportunity arose to build a larger eatery in Clapham Common. What came from this was a restaurant designed by founder Sami, hand-built by Brixton designer and wordsmith Anand Zenz, and the first Anglo-Italian multi-award winning Pizzeria in London - Eco.
The name Eco is inspired by semiotician and code-breaking author and professor Umberto Eco, born in Alessandria, Italy. At the time that Eco was being converted from a Morley’s into the most popular and loved Clapham food institution of its time, Umberto Eco’s novel-turned-film ‘The Name of The Rose’ was playing at the Clapham Picture House next door, a story about the truth behind the meaning of a name.