Amatriciana, gricia and cacio e pepe.

Five things make all four sauces: guanciale, pecorino romano, black pepper, tomato and egg. Rearrange them and you have the Roman card. The MICHELIN inspector writing up Trattoria Pennestri lists them in the order a menu prints them: "carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and gricia open the dance of true flavours". 6 Daria Reina, who co-founded the Chez Dede boutique and is a Roman local rather than a cook, gives the amatriciana in one line: bucatini with "tomato sauce, guanciale, and Pecorino cheese". 1 Cacio e pepe drops everything but the cheese and the pepper, and Sarah Cicolini uses Trattoria Sora Lella to make that point: "unlike other restaurants, which use cured pork, here it's made only with pecorino cheese and black pepper". 10

Dissapore ranked five Roman amatriciane in 2015 and the argument it printed at the top of that list is the one a visitor still runs into. Armando al Pantheon came first, and Dissapore went straight at the objection: "There is no unanimity on Armando, because okay, okay, it is dearer than the classic Roman trattorias. So tell me why you have to book it so far ahead. 7 Domenico dal 1968 came second at thirty euros a head, and the same desk said the Compagnucci family realises the archetype of the Roman trattoria. Antico Arco, which holds no entry here, took the cacio e pepe list that year. Those are 2015 placings and they are printed with their year, because what survives a decade is the ranking's reasoning rather than its order.

The pasta shape is part of the recipe and Roman kitchens are specific about it. The Infatuation finds the amatriciana at Armando al Pantheon "made with rigatoni". 2 MICHELIN's trattoria selection names the cacio e pepe at Hosteria Grappolo d'Oro on tonnarelli, the thicker square-cut strand. 8 At Felice a Testaccio the finishing happens in front of you. Time Out: "this tangle of spaghetti, melted cheese and black pepper comes freshly tossed at the table for you". 4 And the same sauce leaves the pasta altogether at Cesare al Casaletto, where Katie Parla finds "golden gnocchi nuggets strewn atop a thick cacio e pepe sauce"; she sells paid walking tours in Rome. 3

Three of the four sauces reach one card at L'Osteria della Trippa in Trastevere, where MICHELIN's affordable list expects "lamb offal and pasta served with the renowned Roman trifecta of sauces: carbonara, amatriciana and cacio e pepe". 9 The gricia is the one a visitor skips and a regular orders. Katie Parla has eaten monthly at Cesare al Casaletto for years and her instruction is to narrow: "The primi menu at Cesare can be extensive and overwhelming so stick with the gricia and never ever skip the pasta with sugo di coda (oxtail sauce)." 3 Daria Reina's own amatriciana is at La Matriciana across from the Opera House, which holds no entry here, and her detail about it is the kind of thing a century-old room can afford: they are "so special that they're closed on Saturdays". 1

Take the amatriciana at Armando al Pantheon if you have a booking, and at Domenico dal 1968 if you want the same dish in a quarter with no tourists in it. Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina is the version made by a room that buys its own cured meat, which is where an amatriciana is won or lost. Take the cacio e pepe at Felice a Testaccio and watch it finished, or at Hosteria Grappolo d'Oro on tonnarelli inside its four-course Percorso Romano. Take the gricia at Cesare al Casaletto, at the end of the number 8 tram.