The bar, the cornetto and the maritozzo.

One counter sells the coffee, the breakfast pastry and the evening drink, and a Roman uses it three times a day. The cornetto is the breakfast half, and Daria Reina, who co-founded the Chez Dede boutique, glosses it on her way past: the cornetto with cream, Italy's version of a croissant. The other half is the maritozzo, "a soft brioche bun filled with whipped cream and another famous Roman pastry". 5 She buys her own from La Deliziosa, which holds no entry here and which supplies the breakfast at her own business, and she says so herself.

Bar San Calisto on its square in Trastevere is what the format looks like when nobody touches it. Gambero Rosso International counts what is on offer: "'70s furnishings, coffee under a euro, bottled beer, and a handful of ice cream flavours. No restyling, no nods to trends. Yet it works." 4 The same piece refuses to sell it, calling the room "a bare-bones, often overcrowded and noisy bar, with basic service and an unusual crowd. A venue that doesn't try to please." 4 Marcellino Forti is still at the till, the police shut the place in 2018 over its clientele and the night noise, and it reopened three days later.

Dario Fociani came out of Roscioli Caffè and opened Faro - Caffè Specialty on Via Piave in December 2016 with Arturo Felicetta: about twenty-five covers, alternative extractions from the first week, and Rubens Gardelli's coffee always on the bar. 3 Gambero Rosso ranked it first of nine specialty bars in the city under a headline that says it outright: "Faro, specialty coffee: the number one bar in Rome". 8 Fociani will say what that costs, which almost nobody in this trade does: "We turn over a lot to earn little. We look expensive on price, but this is the only way a business like this is sustainable." The double espresso starts at 2.50 euros and fifteen people work there. 2

Sarah Cicolini crosses the city for it: "If you love coffee, Faro is the best spot in Rome. It was actually the first place in the city to introduce specialty coffee culture." The claim about being first is hers, and her order is the filter. 1 Her timing is worth copying: "Sundays are the best time to visit since it's packed with office workers during the week." 1 Katie Parla names four third-wave rooms in Rome and this is the one near Piazza Fiume; she sells paid walking tours in Rome. 7 Daria Reina's own coffee is at the quieter Giolitti on Via Amerigo Vespucci, which holds no entry here, where she orders "an espresso al vetro, espresso served in a small glass instead of a cup", with a spoonful of zabaione stirred into it. 5

Go to Faro - Caffè Specialty for the coffee, on a Sunday, near Piazza Fiume, and to Bar San Calisto for the other kind of coffee and a chair in the square, which is a competition rather than a booking. The maritozzo turns up in two places on this list that are not pastry shops: Bonci Pizzarium keeps one in a refrigerated case at the end of the pizza counter, and Hosteria Grappolo d'Oro closes its four-course Percorso Romano with one, which MICHELIN prices at "four small courses for just over 30 euros". 6