Pizza is for everyone. At least, it should be. Lorenzo Tron and Roberto Davoli put as much R&D and ongoing care into their gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian and halal pizzas as they do with their standard omnivorous offerings. If pizza is about bringing everyone together around the same table, there’s no other way.

There was an incident that brought it home for Tron.

A family came all the way from Queensland when they found out that Shop 225, which opened in 2018, was the first pizza shop accredited by Coeliac Australia for its respectful and safe approach to diners eating gluten free. The young sons, maybe five and six and severely allergic to wheat, ate their first pizza and beamed with utter joy.

Why wouldn’t they? The gluten-free base, made with a mix of corn, rice, potato and chickpea flour, is as light, fluffy and crisp as the wheat version.

If you’re dairy-free, cheese can be replaced with house-made vegan mozzarella, and meat products can be swapped out for halal versions as required.

Classics are done well but there are some fancy pizzas, too. I like the 2807 (name origin lost in the mists of time) with fior di latte, porcini, mushroom cream and sausage.

Even if you’re not dealing with allergies, the fact that the regular pizza dough, made using flour from the Veneto, is rested for 72 hours means it’s light on the stomach.

“You can go for a run after eating it,” says Tron, adding quickly, “But you don’t have to.”

It’s not all pizza. The gnocchi bites are a special of Tron’s home town Trieste, near the Austrian border, where they’re called kifelleti. Think of them as nonna’s potato gems: fluffy, crisp and moreish. Have them tossed with salt, with a lovely seafood fritto misto or (actually, and) with Nutella for dessert.

Fettuccine and scialatielli (a short, flat pasta) is made in-house; gluten-free swaps are available. The Norcina fettuccine is a rich tumble of mushrooms, with flavours similar to the 2807 pizza. Pair it with a glass of Italian red and a Sicilian-style radicchio salad with gorgonzola and oranges.

This is a neighbourhood place, small and warm, run by Tron with humour and empathy, as he sits down with regulars, jokes with newbies, and makes sure everyone sees the note on the menu about the last table of the night being
asked to help with the dishes. (His business partner Davoli spends more time at their other shop, Il Caminetto in Moonee Ponds.)

Just before you are called upon to clean up, sneak in dessert: the tiramisu is alcohol-free (there’s a coeliac-friendly version with house-made ladyfinger biscuits) and the chocolate salami is just like the one Tron snuck from his nonna’s freezer.

“I always enjoyed it, so I thought you might, too,” he says, with the disarming hospitality that exemplifies Shop 225.