{"id":684605,"date":"2026-01-09T14:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/684605\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T14:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:04:35","slug":"i-live-in-rome-heres-where-to-eat-like-a-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/684605\/","title":{"rendered":"I live in Rome \u2026 here\u2019s where to eat like a local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rome is having a moment right now as European Union cash is being splashed on sprucing up piazzas, putting in bike lanes and scraping soot off ancient monuments. New taxi licences also mean that for the first time in years you might actually be able to find a cab. As a resident of Rome I have a list of tips for visitors, but, when it comes to food, instead of recommending the usual suspects for the best traditional pizza, gelato and coffee, all of which are ranked repeatedly on the internet (yes, Sant\u2019 Eustachio Caff\u00e8 is great for coffee), here are a few lesser-known foodie spots I tell friends and colleagues to investigate when they arrive.<\/p>\n

Best carbonara: Pipero\"Tom<\/p>\n

Tom being served a carbonara by Alessandro Pipero<\/p>\n

Legend has it that carbonara pasta made with eggs and pork cheek was invented in Rome when American soldiers in the city at the end of the Second World War asked for a breakfast dish resembling bacon and eggs. Either way it is now central to Roman cuisine and trattorias including Da Carlone in Trastevere and Da Danilo in Esquilino can lay claim to offering the best. But if you fancy a splurge, try the sublime version at the Michelin-starred Pipero Roma on Corso Vittorio in the centre, where it comes as part of an \u00a385 three-course lunch deal (piperoroma.it). The secret is the way the chef fries large chunks of pork cheek, draining the fat from the pan to leave non-greasy, light and crispy chunks that are soft inside. \u201cFoie gras is good. However, at 10am or midnight you wouldn\u2019t eat it, but you would eat carbonara,\u201d says the patron Alessandro Pipero, adding: \u201cThere is good food, fantastic food and wow food. Carbonara is wow food.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Rome\u2019s best restaurants<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Best cake: Pasticceria Boccione\"Pastries,<\/p>\n

Pasticceria Boccione has been run by the same family for five generations<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

Rome\u2019s old Jewish ghetto has been Disneyfied in recent years as \u201cauthentic, traditional\u201d Jewish restaurants pop up overnight, filling the main street with hundreds of tables. But amid the chaos the tiny, spartan-looking Pasticceria Boccione bakery \u2014 run by the same family for five generations \u2014 stands unchanged, still turning out slices of warm ricotta and wild cherry cake and large squares of slightly burnt scones loaded with candied fruit, nuts and raisins (Via del Portico d\u2019Ottavia). The entrance is easy to miss \u2014 keep a look-out for the chunks of ancient Roman temple built into the fa\u00e7ade of the building. I was there early on a freezing cold Sunday morning recently to check everything was still delicious \u2014 it was \u2014 and found the usual queue of locals getting their fix before the tourists arrived. It is said Pope Benedict was a fan and would send assistants across the Tiber from the Vatican to get in line.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read our full travel guide to <\/b>Rome<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Best offal: La Campana\"Roman-style<\/p>\n

Trippa alla romana is a traditional regional dish<\/p>\n

GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

This is not for the squeamish, but offal is Rome\u2019s real signature dish, thanks to the Vatican taking all the best cuts of meat for itself down the centuries, leaving the locals to get inventive with the offcuts. I get my regular helping at La Campana, a 500-year-old restaurant with white tablecloths and handwritten menus once frequented by Goethe and Picasso that spills out into a tiny piazza in the heart of town. Order the sublime \u201canimelle\u201d or sweetbread, which is a bit of a euphemism since we are talking about glands from the throats of lambs. If you can handle that, you are in for a treat. Seared on a hotplate, the creamy, scallop-like morsels arrive on a bed of rocket, singed on the outside and soft on the inside, dressed only in oil, salt and pepper (\u00a316; ristorantelacampana.shop).<\/p>\n

\u2022 21 of the best things to do in Rome<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Best pizza bianca: L\u2019Antico Forno Di Fontana Di Trevi\"A<\/p>\n

Pizza al taglio is popular with locals<\/p>\n

ANDREA DI LORENZO<\/p>\n

Romans eat a lot of \u201cpizza al taglio\u201d, which is ready-to-go hot pizza bought by the slice and eaten on the move. In the morning, hungry office workers and school kids will go for the pared-down version \u2014 pizza bianca \u2014 slices of fresh-out-of-the-oven pizza dough. Roscioli near Campo dei Fiori has a right to call its version one of the best. It is light and has just the right amount of salt and olive oil. But I have long been faithful to the pizza bianca turned out by L\u2019Antico Forno Di Fontana Di Trevi, a bakery near my office that does well-priced slices despite being ringside to the hellish tourist hordes by the Trevi fountain. Go to the counter at the back and ask for its pizza bianca topped with rosemary or sesame seeds. At the counter by the door staff split open slices and stuff them with mortadella and crumbled pistachio <\/b>(\u00a32 a slice; anticoforno.it).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Italy\u2019s best cities for food<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Best maritozzo: Pasticceria Regoli \"A<\/p>\n

Maritozzo is a brioche filled with whipped cream<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

For a real Roman breakfast, try a brioche filled with whipped cream \u2014 the maritozzo, a classic in the Eternal City, which, depending on which story you believe, was once handed out to medieval pilgrims or used to woo potential brides by young men who would hide a ring in the cream. The ultimate spot for the maritozzo has long been Pasticceria Regoli, a small bakery on Via dello Statuto with an adjoining caf\u00e9 where you can order a maritozzo to go with your coffee (\u00a33). The place has been doing a brisk trade in Esquilino since 1916. It\u2019s handily situated halfway between the must-see basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore \u2014 which is so opulent Pope Francis was buried there last year \u2014 and the Colle Oppio Park, which offers great views over the Colosseum.<\/p>\n

\u2022 28 of the best hotels in Rome for 2026<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Best street market: Mercato Trionfale\"Merchants<\/p>\n

Mercato Trionfale has 280 stall holders<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

If you fancy stocking up on cheese, tomatoes and salami for a picnic (use a rosetta roll, which is hollow inside, ready to be filled), one choice is the lively Testaccio market which has a viewing point where you can glimpse down at an excavated ancient Roman warehouse packed with amphorae, which the market is built on top of. The growing number of food stands selling regional gourmet snacks are fun, but are slowly edging out traditional stall holders, so if you want to see the real deal head to the majestic Mercato Trionfale near the Vatican \u2014 reportedly the biggest in Italy \u2014 where 280 stands are piled high with seasonal veg, mozzarella, fresh pasta and olive oil while butchers and fishmongers yell out their prices to local shoppers. Sit-down foodie stands are also slowly moving in here, but are still relegated to the rear of the market, where you can gorge on arrosticini meat skewers from Abruzzo, steaming porchetta slices and sizzling fish snacks in cardboard tubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rome is having a moment right now as European Union cash is being splashed on sprucing up piazzas,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-684605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115865522577933262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}