Rome · Italy by Taste

What to Eat in Rome: 12 Traditional Roman Dishes

Rome gives you plenty to look at, but some of the city’s strongest memories arrive on a plate.

Roman cooking is often built around relatively few ingredients used with confidence: Pecorino Romano, guanciale, black pepper, eggs, tomatoes, seasonal vegetables and inexpensive cuts transformed through slow cooking.

If this is your first trip, these 12 dishes are a useful way to understand the city before you start ordering.

1. Carbonara

Carbonara is one of the dishes most closely associated with Rome today.

The classic Roman version combines pasta with eggs, Pecorino Romano, guanciale and black pepper. The sauce becomes creamy through technique, not through cream. The hot pasta, rendered guanciale fat, cheese and egg mixture have to come together without scrambling the eggs.

The exact proportions vary from cook to cook, but the identity of the dish is remarkably focused.

Try it if: You want the richest of the four famous Roman pastas.

2. Cacio E Pepe

The name tells you almost everything: cheese and pepper.

Cacio e pepe traditionally relies on Pecorino Romano, black pepper and pasta. Starchy pasta water helps create the sauce, but the simplicity is deceptive. Too much heat can make the cheese clump instead of turning creamy.

Try it if: You want to see how far Rome can take a very short ingredient list.

3. Amatriciana

Amatriciana is deeply connected to Roman restaurant culture, although its roots are in Amatrice, in northern Lazio.

The sauce combines guanciale, tomato, Pecorino Romano and usually a little chilli. It developed from gricia, the tomato-free pasta that shares the same base of guanciale and cheese.

Try it if: You want a Roman classic with tomato and a little more acidity.

4. Gricia

If amatriciana is gricia with tomato, gricia is not simply “amatriciana without tomato.”

It has its own balance: guanciale, Pecorino Romano and black pepper coat the pasta in a savoury sauce built from rendered pork fat, cheese and pasta water.

It is sometimes less famous abroad than carbonara or cacio e pepe, which makes it especially worth ordering in Rome.

Try it if: You love guanciale and want a pasta without egg or tomato.

5. Supplì

Supplì is one of Rome’s essential fried snacks.

A classic supplì is an elongated rice croquette with a crisp coating and a centre of melting mozzarella. Traditional versions often use tomato-seasoned rice, sometimes with a meat ragù.

When you pull a hot supplì apart, the mozzarella can stretch between the two halves. That image is behind the nickname supplì al telefono, or “telephone supplì.”

Try it if: You want a quick Roman street-food stop between sights.

6. Carciofi Alla Giudia

Carciofi alla giudia belong to Rome’s Jewish culinary tradition.

The artichoke is opened and fried until the leaves become crisp and the centre remains tender. The result looks almost like a flower and gives you a completely different experience from a soft braised artichoke.

They are especially connected with the area of Rome’s historic Jewish Ghetto.

Try it if: You visit when good artichokes are in season and want one of the city’s most distinctive vegetable dishes.

7. Carciofi Alla Romana

Rome has more than one famous way to treat an artichoke.

Carciofi alla romana are prepared more gently than carciofi alla giudia. They are typically cooked until tender with herbs, garlic and olive oil.

Try it if: You want to compare two classic Roman approaches to the same ingredient.

8. Coda Alla Vaccinara

Coda alla vaccinara is a slow-cooked oxtail dish associated with Rome’s tradition of using the quinto quarto, the cuts and offal historically left after the most valuable parts of an animal were sold.

The oxtail is braised until soft in a rich sauce, traditionally involving tomato and celery, with versions differing from kitchen to kitchen.

Try it if: You want to explore the deeper, slower side of Roman cooking beyond pasta.

9. Saltimbocca Alla Romana

Saltimbocca alla romana usually combines thin slices of veal with prosciutto and sage, cooked quickly in a pan.

The name is often interpreted as something so good it “jumps into the mouth,” which is a rather dramatic way of describing dinner but at least the dish earns some of the theatre.

Try it if: You want a traditional Roman second course that is lighter than a long braise.

10. Trippa Alla Romana

Trippa alla romana is another reminder that traditional Roman food was shaped by practical, economical cooking.

Tripe is slowly cooked with tomato and aromatics, then commonly finished with Pecorino Romano and mint.

Try it if: You are curious about Rome’s offal tradition and do not want to stop at the famous pastas.

11. Pizza Al Taglio

Pizza al taglio means pizza sold by the slice or, more literally, “by the cut.”

You will see large trays with different toppings. You choose the amount you want, it is cut and typically priced by weight.

It is one of the easiest foods to build into a day of sightseeing because it can be a snack, quick lunch or excuse to eat again when you absolutely did not need another meal.

Try it if: You want something fast and flexible rather than a sit-down lunch.

12. Maritozzo

A maritozzo is a soft Roman bun most famously split and filled generously with whipped cream.

It works at breakfast, as a sweet stop or whenever you decide that walking fifteen kilometres through Rome has created a medical need for cream.

Try it if: You want a classic Roman sweet alongside coffee.

Which Roman Dish Should You Try First?

If you only have a short stay, do not turn your trip into a race to eat all 12.

A good first taste of Rome might include:: One of the four famous pastas
One supplì
One artichoke dish when in season
One traditional meat or offal dish if it appeals to you
Pizza al taglio
A maritozzo or another Roman sweet

That gives you a wider picture of the city than ordering three heavy pasta dishes in a single afternoon and spending the rest of Rome in a food coma.

Italy By Taste Tip

Do not judge Roman cuisine only by the four pasta dishes. They are famous for a reason, but markets, vegetables, fried food, Jewish-Roman cooking and the quinto quarto tradition tell an equally important part of the story.