Trapizzino
Stefano Callegari invented the trapizzino behind this Testaccio counter.
Why go
Katie Parla, who sells paid walking tours in Rome, writes on Eater's map that the concept is based on the trapizzino, a combination of the popular triangular tramezzino sandwich with long, slowly leavened pizza dough, invented by pizzaiolo Stefano Callegari in 2009
(Eater). What goes inside is what a trattoria would put on a plate.
This Testaccio counter is where it started, and it was something else then. Gambero Rosso dates the change: born as a pizza-by-the-slice shop under the name 00100, it is here that Stefano Callegari began the experiments that would lead to the famous speciality
(Gambero Rosso).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the chicken cacciatora. Katie Parla calls the trapizzini at the growing number of shops a must,
especially the chicken cacciatore
.4 - Avoid: expecting a table here. Eater says to take the Trastevere branch for
table service and a full bar with Lazio wines
.3
What locals & experts say
- Daria Reina, co-founder of the Chez Dede boutique (The Relisher, October 2024):
My advice: try at least three different fillings to really get what all the hype is about. Ideal for a quick lunch. When I host dinner parties, I order trapizzini from here.
7 - Gambero Rosso (2023):
Stefano Callegari needs little introduction. Besides inventing a new street food in Rome, by now iconic, by putting the sauces of the tradition into a pocket of pizza, the craftsman is also owed the credit for rethinking the very idea of the supplì.
1
Good to know
- The doors: Gambero Rosso prints four in Rome. This page is about the Testaccio original on via Giovanni Branca.
- Booking: none. It is a counter.
Verdict
should-visit — Stefano Callegari put a trattoria sauce inside a pocket of slowly leavened pizza dough in 2009 and invented a format the city now sells everywhere, which is a rarer thing than a good plate. The same guide says he rethought the supplì on the way. Katie Parla says order the chicken cacciatora. It stays under must-visit because it is a counter with a handful of fillings, and because four Rome doors and outposts abroad make it a chain now rather than a room.