Roman Food: 15 Dishes to Eat in Rome and Where to Try Them

Roman food is simple cooking built on a few ingredients: the four classic pastas (carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and gricia), artichokes, supplì, pizza al taglio, saltimbocca, oxtail stew and the cream-filled maritozzo. Eat pasta in a trattoria, grab street food at a bakery, and shop at the Testaccio market.

We have shown visitors around Rome since 2012 and we run food tours and cooking classes. This guide is what we tell our own guests: the dishes worth ordering, where Romans eat them, how to order coffee and gelato, and how to eat gluten free.

What is Roman food like?

Roman cooking, cucina romana, comes from home kitchens and working-class taverns. Most dishes use three to five ingredients, so their quality is everything. Four things shape it:

• Pecorino Romano and guanciale: a salty sheep’s milk cheese and cured pork cheek, the base of the classic pastas.
• The “fifth quarter”: offal and cheap cuts, the quinto quarto, linked to Testaccio, where Rome’s old slaughterhouse stood.
• Roman Jewish cooking: fried artichokes and the ricotta and sour cherry tart.
• The seasons: artichokes in late winter and spring, puntarelle in winter.

Which 15 dishes should you eat in Rome?

What are the four classic Roman pastas?

Almost every trattoria in Rome cooks all four. Try at least two.

• Carbonara: egg yolks, guanciale, Pecorino Romano and black pepper. The creamy sauce comes from egg and cheese, not cream, and Romans use guanciale, not bacon. The first written recipes date only from the mid-20th century.
• Cacio e pepe: Pecorino Romano, black pepper and starchy pasta water, whisked into a smooth sauce, often with tonnarelli, a thick square spaghetti.
• Amatriciana: guanciale, tomato and Pecorino, named after Amatrice, a mountain town in Lazio. It comes with bucatini, a hollow spaghetti, or rigatoni.
• Gricia: guanciale, Pecorino and pepper, in practice an amatriciana without tomato, usually with rigatoni.

To make fresh pasta yourself, join our pasta making class, with a meal and wine for adults at the end.

What is Roman street food?

Romans snack standing up, at a bakery counter or a pizza al taglio shop.

• Supplì: rice cooked in tomato sauce, with mozzarella in the center, breaded and fried. The full name, supplì al telefono, comes from the melted mozzarella that stretches like a telephone cord.
• Pizza al taglio: pizza baked in rectangular trays. Point to the one you want, and it is cut and weighed. Bakeries (forni) also sell pizza bianca, with olive oil and salt, and pizza rossa, with tomato.
• Roman pizza: the round pizza tonda is rolled very thin and comes out crispy, with almost no raised edge. Pizzerias are mostly an evening affair, and Romans often start with fried starters such as supplì.

To learn the thin Roman base, book our pizza making class, where you stretch and bake your own pizza.

Which vegetables and main courses are typically Roman?

Artichokes are the vegetable of Rome. Carciofi alla romana are stuffed with mint and garlic and braised in olive oil until soft. Carciofi alla giudia, from the Roman Jewish tradition, are fried whole, pressed open like a flower and fried again until crisp. Look for both in late winter and spring, and for the fried version in the Jewish Quarter.

In winter, order puntarelle: crunchy chicory shoots cut into strips and dressed with anchovies, garlic, vinegar and olive oil.

For the main course:

• Saltimbocca alla romana: veal slices topped with prosciutto and sage, cooked in butter and white wine. The name means “jumps into the mouth”.
• Coda alla vaccinara: oxtail stewed for hours in tomato sauce with celery, named after the vaccinari, the men who slaughtered cattle. It is a classic of Testaccio.
• Abbacchio: young lamb. A scottadito, “finger-burning”, means grilled chops eaten with your hands. Roast lamb is a traditional Easter meal.

What desserts should you try in Rome?

The maritozzo is Rome’s breakfast treat: a soft, sweet bun split open and filled with whipped cream. Romans eat it at the bar with a cappuccino, and many pastry shops now also sell savory versions. The name comes from marito, husband: according to tradition, young men gave one to their fiancée, sometimes with a ring hidden inside. Read the whole story in our article on the maritozzo.

Also try the crostata di ricotta e visciole, a tart of sweetened ricotta and sour cherry jam, a symbol of the Jewish Ghetto’s bakeries. Our ricotta and sour cherry tart recipe shows you how to bake it at home.

How do you order coffee and gelato like a Roman?

Coffee in Rome is quick and usually drunk standing at the counter.

• Un caffè is an espresso, and a caffè macchiato adds a dash of milk foam. For a milky coffee, ask for a caffè latte: latte alone means milk.
• Most Romans drink cappuccino only at breakfast, but no bar will refuse to make you one.
• In most bars, coffee at the counter costs less than at a table. In busy bars you often pay first at the cash desk, then show the receipt at the counter.

For coffee with history, see our guide to the historical cafés of Rome. For free water, use the nasoni, the public drinking fountains.

Gelato comes in a cone (cono) or a cup (coppetta), usually with two or three flavors. Seasonal flavors, natural colors (pistachio is a dull green-brown, not bright green) and covered metal tubs are generally good signs.

Where should you eat in Rome?

Choose the place for the dish you want:

• Trattoria or osteria: pasta, artichokes and main courses. A short menu in Italian that changes with the season is a good sign. Many close in the afternoon.
• Pizzeria: round Roman pizza and fried starters, mainly in the evening.
• Pizza al taglio shop and bakery (forno): pizza by weight, for a quick lunch.
• Bar and pastry shop: coffee and maritozzi in the morning.

For neighborhoods, Testaccio is the home of the “fifth quarter”, Trastevere is full of trattorias, and the Jewish Quarter is the place for Roman Jewish dishes. Markets show what Romans actually buy:

Official websites give exact hours only for Testaccio, so go to the street markets in the morning. For more, read our guide to the markets of Rome.

Can you eat gluten free in Rome?

Yes, with some planning. The Italian Coeliac Association (AIC) runs Alimentazione Fuori Casa (AFC, “eating out”), a network of restaurants, pizzerias, bars, gelaterias and hotels that follow its gluten-free rules. According to AIC:

• The full list is for AIC members. Foreign visitors can buy AIC Mobile Welcome, a 15-day version of the AIC Mobile app, in English.
• Only the AIC website and app are official. A window sticker is not enough: check that the place is listed.
• AFC places follow strict rules: gluten-free pasta is never cooked in water used for regular pasta, fried food never in oil used for food with gluten, and gelato is served with a dedicated scoop.
• Say you are celiac when you book, not only when you order.

Elsewhere, AIC suggests explaining that you can eat rice, corn, potatoes, vegetables, fruit, eggs, cheese, milk, meat and fish, as long as nothing is prepared with forbidden flours, breadcrumbs, batter or thickened sauces. Pasta, pizza, supplì and maritozzi contain wheat unless the menu says senza glutine.

Our cooking classes are not suitable for celiacs or a gluten-free diet: they use wheat flour, and cross-contamination cannot be avoided. On our food tours we adapt the tastings where possible but cannot rule out cross-contamination, so tell us your needs when you book.

Food tour or cooking class: which one is right for you?

If you are happy exploring alone, a morning at the Testaccio market and a trattoria lunch cost much less than any tour. A tour or class is worth it when you want someone to explain what you eat, or a recipe to cook again at home.

Taste Rome with us

Our Trastevere and Jewish Ghetto food tour is a 2.5-hour shared walk, in English, starting every day at 10:00 and 17:00 in Piazza Trilussa, in front of the poet’s statue. You taste local specialties through Trastevere, Campo de’ Fiori and the Ghetto, and finish with fresh pasta, wine and dessert, for €150 per person.

To cook, choose the pasta making class or the pizza making class: 3 hours with English-speaking chefs at 11:00, 15:00 and 18:30, ending with your meal and wine for adults. The pizza class costs €79 per person, and the pasta class €79, or €89 from April to November. For the other times, we send the meeting point when you book. The market tour and cooking class starts at 9:30, Monday to Saturday, at Largo di Torre Argentina 1, with shopping at Campo de’ Fiori and a five-course meal, for €190 per person. Classes and food tours are non-refundable once confirmed.

Prefer to ride? On the private Fiat 500 tour with food tasting, your driver picks you up in the historic center at 14:30 or 18:00. You taste a slice of pizza or a porchetta sandwich at a traditional bakery, fresh mozzarella and gelato, and see the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain from the outside. It costs from €650 for 1–2 people, children from age 3. The golf cart tour with food tasting costs from €510 for 1–2 people. Both take up to 21 guests guaranteed, larger groups on request. If it rains, the golf carts have rain covers, and the Fiat 500 tour moves to a golf cart, or to another date if none is free. Our drivers are not licensed guides, but they gladly share food tips. See all our golf cart tours in Rome and vintage Fiat 500 tours in Rome.

See all our food tasting tours and cooking classes, and plan the rest of your stay with our guides to the Colosseum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.

Explore it with us

Trastevere & Ghetto Food Tour2.5-hour shared food walk with tastings, pasta and wine · €150 per personBook nowPasta Making Class3-hour shared class, with the meal you make and wine · from €79 per personBook nowFiat 500 Tour + Food Tasting3-hour private ride with three tastings · from €650 for 1–2 peopleBook now

FAQ

What food is Rome famous for?

Rome is famous for four pastas: carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and gricia. Other classics are artichokes, either braised or fried Jewish style, supplì, pizza al taglio, saltimbocca, oxtail stew and the maritozzo, a sweet bun filled with whipped cream.

What are the four Roman pastas?

Carbonara (egg yolk, guanciale, Pecorino Romano and pepper), cacio e pepe (Pecorino and black pepper), amatriciana (guanciale, tomato and Pecorino) and gricia (guanciale, Pecorino and pepper, without tomato). The Roman carbonara has no cream.

What is the difference between Roman and Neapolitan pizza?

Roman pizza is rolled very thin and comes out crispy, with almost no raised edge. Neapolitan pizza is softer, with a thick, puffy edge. In Rome you also find pizza al taglio, baked in rectangular trays and sold by weight.

Can you eat gluten free in Rome?

Yes. The Italian Coeliac Association (AIC) lists trained restaurants, pizzerias, bars and gelaterias in its AFC programme, and foreign visitors can buy the 15-day AIC Mobile Welcome app in English. Only places listed on the AIC website or app are part of the programme, whatever the window sticker says.

What is a maritozzo and when do you eat it?

A maritozzo is a soft, sweet bun split open and filled with whipped cream. Romans usually eat it for breakfast at the bar with a cappuccino, but bars and pastry shops sell it all day.

Is a food tour or a cooking class in Rome worth it?

It depends on what you want. If you know what to order, markets and trattorias cost less. A food tour helps you taste many specialties with a local in a few hours, and a cooking class teaches you a recipe you can make again at home.