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Roman food is built on simple, often poor ingredients — offal, pecorino, guanciale, artichokes and puntarelle. Here is what to order, where to eat it, and how the city's wine culture works.
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Rome enchants with its millennial history, and exploring its monuments, churches and works of art is also a journey through the many culinary specialities you can enjoy in every corner. Tasting the typical dishes of traditional Roman cuisine is the way to discover the city's true essence.[3]
Traditional Roman cuisine is made with simple and often poor ingredients. Onion and garlic are two fundamental ingredients, and the results are rich in intense and genuine flavours.[3]
The place of honour among traditional Roman dishes belongs to the so-called fifth quarter, the offal and less valuable parts of beef and lamb or mutton. It includes tripe, kidneys, heart, livers, spleen, sweetbreads and backs (spinal cord), brains, tongue and tail.[5]
Roman meat comes mainly from the Roman countryside, the fertile area surrounding the city, and the cuisine relies on local vegetables such as broccoli, chicory, artichokes, tomatoes, broad beans and puntarelle.[5]
Rome (FCO)
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Roman food trails wind through working-class neighbourhoods like Trastevere and Testaccio, which are quite central. Garbatella, San Lorenzo and Ostiense are slightly further out from the centre and teem with trattorias.[5]
In the evening these neighbourhoods become a popular destination for historic inns and restaurants that rarely reinvent traditional dishes.[5]
For a specific address, head to Trastevere, Borgo or Monti for a gricia or a carbonara — the source says it is in a league of its own.[5]
The hills of the Castelli Romani have always been an ideal area for growing vines, both for the soil composition and the mild climate. The two DOCGs of the province of Rome come from Frascati: the Frascati Superiore and the slightly sweet Cannellino wine.[4]
DOCG (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin) is the highest quality level among the two Italian quality classifications DOCG and DOC. Two classic DOCs, Colli Albani and Marino, come from the same area as the Frascati DOCGs.[4]
Cesanese is the most important autochthonous red grape vine. The most recent DOC is Roma, including red, rosé and white wines as well as sparkling wines developed in the province of Rome.[4]
The fraschette are maker-run wine bars named after the laurel branches and vine shoots they exhibited as a symbol. Look for them when you want a simple glass of local wine.[4]
The typical measures of the Roman osterie were the Tubo (1 liter), the Foglietta (1/2 liter), the Quartino (1/4 liter), the Chirichetto (1/5 liter) and the Sospiro (1/10 liter).[4]
For a food pairing, the Cannellino wine goes beautifully with maritozzo, aged Pecorino cheese, or ciambelline al vino.[4]
Rome's historic centre is full of age-old cafes. Stop in for a coffee and watch the city go by.[2]
Pecorino Romano is an intensely flavorful and aromatic aged hard cheese that has always enriched traditional Capitoline cuisine. It has a 2,000-year history, and Roman legionnaires received a daily ration of one ounce (27 grams).[3],[13]
Pecorino Romano as a table cheese is aged for 5 months; as a grating cheese it requires at least 8 months. The rind of true Roman Pecorino is thin, ivory or straw-colored, and can be natural or black capped. Look for the DOP mark and the stylized sheep's head logo.[13]
Pecorino is traditionally paired with fava beans, a Roman tradition linked to 1 May that is now widespread throughout Italy.[13]
The main condiment of past Roman recipes was lard, followed by guanciale and, only for some dishes, olive oil. Olive oil became indispensable in Jewish-Roman cuisine and in fried foods.[10]
Cazzimperio — known in the rest of Italy as pinzimonio — is a dish of celery, fennel and radishes dipped in a sauce of salt, pepper and four drops of oil. A simple, fresh starter.[10]
Roman dishes made from simple ingredients include rigatoni with pajata (pasta with intestines of unweaned calves) or kidneys.[5]
All the city restaurants propose the holiday soups — stracciatella, brodetto di Pasqua and cappelletti in brodo — together with the famous local pasta dishes.[5]
On holidays the city reveals one of its most irresistible aspects: its exceptional gastronomic tradition.[3],[6]
The garofolato is a beef roast round steak (girello) stuffed with bits of lard, cloves and sliced garlic, slowly cooked for a couple of hours in a pan with onion, oil and butter with celery and tomato. Its sauce was also used to season tripe alla trasteverina, then passed into the oven enriched with grated pecorino cheese and minced mint.[5]
Christmas in Roman cuisine is an occasion to gather with family and share the pleasures of the table. The Roman tradition for both dinner on Christmas Eve and lunch on Christmas Day included strictly seafood-based dishes, preferably focusing on small fish.[3],[12]
The Christmas Eve menu usually includes an appetizer based on peeled shrimp, octopus, marinated eel and pickled vegetables, a first course of arzilla broth and spaghetti con le vongole veraci, and a second course of roasted fish or peeled prawns with fried side dishes. It ends with oranges, mandarins, clementines, dried fruit, walnuts and hazelnuts and traditional desserts such as pangiallo and torrone.[12]
On 25 December, the traditional Roman menu starts with stracciatella or cappelletti in brodo, continues with cappone in brodo and breaded lamb chops, and ends with seasonal fruit and desserts.[12]
In spring, broad beans are the protagonists of the vignarola. The first day of May has always been a feast day for Romans and an occasion to leave the city behind and enjoy a day out in the countryside.[3],[5]
Romans today still eat traditional carnival sweets such as castagnole alla romana, bocconotti and frappe. Carnival sweets can be fried according to classic recipes or baked in a lighter version.[9]
In November, look for fave dolci or fave dei morti, prepared with sweet almond flour, and the bones of the dead (ossi de morto), a very sweet treat in the form of bones. Both are generally consumed in November during the festivities associated with the Month of the Dead.[11]
Travellers can get tourist information from Roma's Tourist InfoPoints, and the Rome tourist call centre is on 060608. Rome also offers free Wi-Fi in the city.[1]
Julia is a personal assistant for Rome visitors — a useful tool if you want to ask about opening hours or neighborhoods.[1]
Rome's official tourist card is called Roma Pass and is described as a unique way to visit the city. If you plan to combine food walks with museum visits, check whether it fits your itinerary.[1]
Travellers can get around Rome by bus, tram and metro, by tourist bus, by boat, by bicycle, and with sharing mobility options. Garbatella, San Lorenzo and Ostiense are slightly further out from the centre and teem with trattorias.[1],[5]
Rome is described as accessible for everybody.[1]
Rome's official tourism website is available in English, Italian, German, French and Spanish. You can also subscribe to a newsletter to stay informed about what's happening in Rome.[1],[7]
Spaghetti alla carbonara is one of the legendary dishes of Roman cooking. Fettuccine alla Papalina was developed in the first half of the 20th century in honor of a pope, at his explicit request; Pius XII, born Eugenio Pacelli, asked the chef for a different pasta dish that respected Roman culinary tradition but was less fatty and more digestible than other traditional recipes, and the cook created it based on spaghetti alla carbonara, which the pontiff ate but considered too heavy.[5],[8]
Head to Trastevere and Testaccio, which are central, or Garbatella, San Lorenzo and Ostiense, slightly further out, where trattorias teem and historic inns rarely reinvent traditional dishes.[5]
Look for Frascati Superiore or the slightly sweet Cannellino, both DOCGs from the province of Rome. Cannellino pairs beautifully with maritozzo, aged Pecorino or ciambelline al vino.[4]
No. The fifth quarter is central, but the city also has legendary pasta like carbonara, amatriciana and gricia, plus vegetable dishes like puntarelle and vignarola. There is plenty for every taste.[5]
The maritozzo, described as the eighth king of Rome. Also try artisan gelato, which has a fascinating history of the fusion of cultures.[3]
Contact the tourist call centre on 060608 or visit a Tourist InfoPoint. You can also subscribe to the city's newsletter to stay informed about what's happening in Rome.[1]
Every rule, fee and deadline above is taken from these official pages, which we read on November 1, 2026. Rules change, so check the official page before you apply or pay.
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