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Thenapkins were folded away for the last time, the cutlery gathered dust and the telephone sat silent on an unmanned desk. The famous London restaurant San Lorenzo closed its doors for good in 2022.

This marked not just the end of an era, but also the end of the kind of glamorous, ritzy, family-owned restaurant rarely seen in the capital any more, and that was sad news.

Throughout its vibrant history of catering to the rich and famous, San Lorenzo survived many things, including a young Rod Stewart wiping his liver and bacon on a napkin because he ‘didn’t like the gravy’; restaurant critic Michael Winner complaining that his melon was too ‘squashy’; and the Duke of Bedford smashing his head on the low ceiling, then saying: ‘Don’t worry, I’m told it is quite empty.’

Yet like many restaurants, poor old San Lorenzo was unable to survive the pandemic. It was supposed to reopen in September 2021 but the doors remained firmly closed. With its passing, another delicious morsel of London’s restaurant history disappeared into the dust, never to be seen again.

Located on Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge, the celebrated hotspot served its homemade pasta and sauces to the rich and famous for more than five decades. It was owned and run by Lorenzo and Mara Berni, an enterprising Italian couple from Tuscany and Piedmont respectively. From humble beginnings in October 1963, they turned San Lorenzo, which originally had only nine seats, into one of the most celebrated restaurants in the country.

Everyone who was anyone came here — from Hollywood stars to sporting heroes to royalty, aristocracy, pop singers and Lulu. Twiggy held her 21st birthday party here, while Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton chose it to celebrate their 1966 World Cup win and any reunions over the years.

Madonna and Guy Ritchie did their courting here and actress Gloria Swanson raved about the dishes and had the restaurant deliver avocado sandwiches to her hotel. During its glory years, the clamour for tables at San Lorenzo was ferocious, although of course it is most famous for being the favourite restaurant of Princess Diana.

Bathed in natural light from a large skylight and decorated with potted plants and tiled floors, there were four separate dining areas, offering a pleasing degree of privacy for a princess. Only ten minutes in a fast car from Kensington Palace, the restaurant was to play a significant part in Diana’s life. She took her sons, lunched with her girlfriends and supposedly trysted with her lovers there, including James Gilbey and James Hewitt.

She became particularly close to Mara Berni, the proprietress whom she called her ‘Mother Confessor’ because she was such a trusted confidante. Diana talks about Mara on the infamous ‘Squidgygate’ tapes.

Their friendship began when Mrs Berni, who believed she had psychic powers, went over to her table one night, took hold of Diana’s wrist and sympathised about her unhappy marriage to the Prince of Wales — at a time when the marital discontent was a secret.

Diana loved the place so much that, when he was only six and upset at the breakdown of his parents’ marriage, Prince William would make reservations at San Lorenzo, promising Mummy it would be ‘just the thing to cheer you up’.

Ironically, when San Lorenzo became infamous because it was Diana’s favourite restaurant and the stew of paparazzi outside got bigger and bigger, she had to stop going there.

But what was the secret of its success? San Lorenzo launched as a simple northern Italian restaurant at a time when there was nothing like it in London. There were communal tables and a tree growing in the middle of the room while the menu featured family recipes: polenta just like Lorenzo’s grandmother made, an anchovy sauce from Mara’s mother. Word soon got out. Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly would come to dine on scrambled eggs laced with slices of Alba truffle, while Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw ordered Camparis and grills.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney also turned up, while Gregory Peck, David Niven, Charlton Heston, Frank Sinatra and Douglas Fairbanks Jr all had their regular tables. One night Sophia Loren visited with 11 men but fell in love only with the restaurant’s mozzarella — at the time it was unheard of outside Italy.

Mara would send food boxes to Loren at Pinewood Studios when she was making a film with Peter Sellers. The restaurant made its own bread, with the initials SL baked into the dough, and Mara popped some of that in, too. ‘Sophia thought they were made especially for her — really [the initials] stood for San Lorenzo, but we didn’t like to disappoint her,’ Mara recalled.

Peter Sellers became a regular customer. He romanced most of his girlfriends and wives there, including his second wife, Britt Ekland, who remembers eating there ‘three or four times a week’.

They then brought their friends, Princess Margaret and Tony Snowdon, and when they came down the stairs into the restaurant, everyone stood up. ‘That has never happened before or since,’ recalled Mara in 2006.

Snowdon also used to roar up on his motorbike, with gorgeous aristo Lady Jackie Rufus Isaacs on the back. They were having a raging affair and would come in for dinner. Mara, as always, was the soul of discretion. ‘I never take sides,’ she would say. ‘I love them all.’

In 1967, film director Roy Boulting proposed to Hayley Mills in the restaurant, presenting her with a diamond ring. Boulting was 32 years older than former child star Mills, and had just directed her in the film The Family Way, in which she appeared nude. After she said yes, the couple carved their initials into the sycamore tree in the middle of the restaurant.

Hugh Grant, Jemima Khan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Elton John, Sting, the Beckhams, Liz Hurley and Shane Warne were all regulars. I went for lunch once with a Diana Ross-lookalike drag queen — long story — and Anjelica Huston came over, took his hand and said: ‘You, my dear, are a beauty.’

It seemed as if the golden days would go on for ever but, like many great restaurants, it had a long, slow decline. When Mara died in 2012, much of the remaining glory died with her. And as Lorenzo stepped back, their children continued to run it, but never emulated their parents’ success.

Nonetheless, this restaurant offered comfort to a sad princess and succour to a devoted clientele for many years.

San Lorenzo may have become a shadow of what it was, it may have poured its last signature drink — prosecco and fresh raspberry juice — and served its last stuffed ravioli, but it was once a magical place, and I hope that is what many will remember most.

A version of this article was originally published by the Mail on June 15, 2022