Smoked by AI · Rome
Culture of place.
How Rome eats: the habits and patterns that belong to the city rather than to any one room. The people who make the food live on their own page: producers.
The Infatuation's rule for picking a gelateria is a craft test rather than a taste one: good gelato is served warmer than ice cream and melts faster, so a towering display is the warning sign. Marco Radicioni pasteurises six litres at a time at Otaleg and churns in a vertical machine that whips in less air, and Sarah Cicolini's flavour there is rosemary sorbet.
- best version at Otaleg (Monteverde) Marco Radicioni moved his whole production into this shop so nothing leaves his hands before it reaches the counter.
The Infatuation, on where Otaleg's founder came fromSarah Cicolini, on why she names no single favouriteMarco Radicioni, in Gambero Rosso, 25 May 2023, on the fior di latteOtaleg (venue site), on the house method
Pizza al taglio
how it is eatenTrionfale, Regola and Campo de' Fiori, and every bakery counter between themGabriele Bonci ferments a high-hydration dough up to 72 hours, bakes it in sheet trays, cuts it with scissors and sells it by weight, and Gambero Rosso calls Pizzarium a symbol of the city. The Infatuation credits him with training many of today's top Roman pizzaioli. At the bakery counters on Campo de' Fiori and via dei Chiavari the same bread arrives as a strip of pizza bianca with mortadella folded into it.
- best version at Bonci Pizzarium Eleven trays at a time on an eight-metre counter, the display rebuilt daily with the season, and a ticket number instead of a table.
- best version at Antico Forno Roscioli Pierluigi Roscioli bakes here and Katie Parla narrows the order to one thing on the counter.
- best version at Forno Campo de' Fiori The pizza bianca comes out in long strips and the one to take is folded around mortadella.
Gabriele Bonci, in Gambero Rosso, on the room's place in the quarterThe Infatuation, The 18 Best Pizza Spots In Rome, on the two slices at Forno Campo de' FioriGambero Rosso, the al taglio guide, on the crumb and the daily displayGambero Rosso, Dove mangiare la pizza romana, 18 June 2023, on where Sami El Sabawy trained
The bar, the cornetto and the maritozzo
how it is eatenTrastevere, Sallustiano, and every corner counter between themA Roman bar sells coffee, breakfast and a drink off one counter, and at Bar San Calisto in Trastevere the coffee is still under a euro. Dario Fociani opened Faro on Via Piave in December 2016 and prices a double espresso from 2.50 because that is what makes a specialty bar hold. The maritozzo is the bun to eat with either: split, and filled with whipped cream.
- best version at Bar San Calisto Nobody has restyled the room and the prices have not moved with the neighbourhood around it.
- best version at Faro - Caffè Specialty Dario Fociani came out of Roscioli Caffè and put specialty extractions on a Roman counter, and Gambero Rosso ranked it first of nine.
- best version at Hosteria Grappolo d'Oro The maritozzo closes a four-course Roman set menu here, a hundred metres from Campo de' Fiori.
- best version at Bonci Pizzarium The maritozzo and the tiramisu sit in a refrigerated case at the end of a counter that is otherwise all pizza.
Sarah Cicolini, on when to go and what she ordersDario Fociani, in Gambero Rosso, Michela Becchi, 5 October 2024, on the economicsPuntarella Rossa, 21 December 2016, on the openingGambero Rosso International, on what visitors find at Bar San Calisto
The enoteca and the early evening
how it is eatenGarbatella and Castro Pretorio, from the early eveningSarah Cicolini walks into a Roman wine bar as it opens, for an aperitivo before dinner, and the two she names are La Mescita in Garbatella for the organic and biodynamic list and Trimani for the Langhe. Trimani prices its bottles off the enoteca next door, which is why a Barolo reads cheap there. Katie Parla puts La Mescita first on her own Rome wine list and tells you not to eat the food.
- best version at Enoteca La Mescita The name means the pouring, the room is small and dim, and the waiters choose the bottle.
- best version at Trimani il Wine Bar The wine bar and the shop are one business through two doors, and the markups come off the shop.
- best version at SantoPalato The cellar is in view of the tables and Time Out counts it past eight hundred wines, which is not what a trattoria list looks like.
- best version at Romanè The organic and biodynamic list is the surprise in a room that is otherwise about offal and volume.
- best version at Armando al Pantheon Fabiana Gargioli is the sommelier and MICHELIN says she pairs with a preference for organic labels.
- best version at Drink Kong Patrick Pistolesi rebuilds the whole card to a new theme each year, which is the opposite discipline to a cellar.
Sarah Cicolini, on what she orders at TrimaniKatie Parla, on where to buy spiritsGambero Rosso, Dove bere vini naturali a Roma, 20 May 2023, on what La Mescita's kitchen doesRoma Capitale tourism register, ilwinebar Trimani
Gambero Rosso's whole definition of the Roman round is four words about Da Remo in Testaccio: low, and it cracks. Sarah Cicolini says a new generation of pizzaioli is rebuilding it with better flour after years of thin and crunchy made cheap, and the room she names is Jacopo Mercuro's 180g out in Centocelle. None of them opens for lunch.
- best version at Da Remo The oven is wood, the round is paper-thin with charred edges, and ten to fifteen euros covers the evening.
- best version at 180g Pizzeria Romana Jacopo Mercuro gives an indirect dough a long fermentation and hand-stretches it off the 180-gram ball the room is named for.
- best version at L'Elementare Mirko Rizzo holds an airy dough under a crust that cracks, and pours more than twenty-five craft beers off the counter at the door.
- best version at Seu Pizza Illuminati Pier Daniele Seu leavens twice to get the Neapolitan chew and the Roman crack into one base, and 50 Top Pizza put the room second in Italy for 2026.
- best version at La Tavernaccia da Bruno One wood oven takes the roasts and the rounds together, which is why Sarah Cicolini sends people here for both.
Sarah Cicolini, on when a Roman pizzeria opensGambero Rosso, Dove mangiare la pizza romana, 18 June 2023, on who is doing thisGambero Rosso, Roma e il meglio del Lazio, 180g venue page, last assessed 202550 Top Pizza, venue page for 180 Grammi, 2026
Rigatoni alla pajata is milk-fed veal intestine and it is on trattoria menus all over this city. Annie Replogle calls the quinto quarto 'the discarded animal parts that are I can't believe I'm eating this and actually enjoying it kind of delicious', and The Infatuation sends you to Trecca for it. Sarah Cicolini built SantoPalato on the same cuts and Gambero Rosso made it one of two Tre Gamberi rooms in the region.
- best version at Trecca Manuel and Nicolò Treccastelli run the whole kitchen off the offal end, four metro stops from the Colosseum.
- best version at SantoPalato Sarah Cicolini buys from farmers and breeders who work the forgotten cuts, and the whole kitchen is organised around them.
- best version at Romanè Fried brain and trippa alla romana open the card in a quarter behind the Vatican that tourists cross rather than eat in.
- best version at L'Osteria della Trippa The sign says tripe and the inspector leads on it.
- best version at Armando al Pantheon The offal sits on the same card as the fish and the sour-cherry tart, a few metres from the Pantheon.
- best version at Domenico dal 1968 Tripe, sweetbreads and coratella arrive in a spoken menu with no printed card behind it.
- best version at Cesare al Casaletto Gambero Rosso's award for this room named the trippa alla romana rather than any of its pastas.
- best version at Piatto Romano Katie Parla's reason for coming is that the vegetable list and the offal sit on the same menu.
- best version at Mazzo Francesca Barreca and Marco Baccannelli reopened in San Lorenzo and the fried tripe is the first dish Eater names.
- best version at Mordi e Vai The Esposito family were butchers, which is why the fillings are the cuts a sandwich counter does not usually bother with.
- best version at Zia Antonio Ziantoni puts an oyster with nervetti on a one-star tasting card, which is the offal tradition wearing a different jacket.
The Infatuation, Annie Replogle, on the chicken dish at TreccaMICHELIN Guide, Affordable Restaurants in Rome, on Domenico dal 1968SantoPalato (venue site), on what the kitchen is built onKatie Parla, Where to Eat & Drink & Shop for Food in Rome, 6 June 2024, on Cicolini
The Roman-Jewish kitchen
how it is eatenSant'Angelo, the Ghetto, on and around Via del Portico d'OttaviaCarciofi alla giudia is an artichoke flattened open and deep-fried until the outer leaves snap, and it is the dish the Ghetto gave the rest of Rome. Boccione on Via del Portico d'Ottavia is the last kosher bakery on that street, and the thing to buy is a tart of ricotta under a thin layer of wild cherry jam that sells out. The artichoke is a winter dish and Katie Parla says so.
- best version at Boccione The last kosher bakery on the Ghetto's main street, and it is the ricotta and sour-cherry tart you queue for.
- best version at Nonna Betta A kosher kitchen where the carbonara is built on dried beef, since the tradition allows no guanciale.
- best version at Da Enzo al 29 Gambero Rosso says starting on the fried artichoke here is a duty rather than a choice.
- best version at Domenico dal 1968 Both artichokes are on one card here, the Roman braise and the Ghetto's fried one, which is rare.
- best version at L'Osteria della Trippa The Ghetto's artichoke sits beside the tripe and the lamb offal on a Trastevere Bib Gourmand card.
- best version at Zia Antonio Ziantoni sends out an artichoke dressed as alla giudia and cooked another way, on a starred tasting menu up the street.
Eater, on the pizza ebraicaKatie Parla, on what to order at Nonna Betta and what she thinks of the restThe Infatuation, on what the bake looks likeMICHELIN Guide, Affordable Restaurants in Rome, updated 30 April 2026, on Domenico dal 1968