TABLE OF CONTENTS
Best Roman Foods
MAIN INGREDIENTS
The carbonara we know today is prepared by simply tossing spaghetti with guanciale (cured pork jowl), egg yolks, and Pecorino Romano cheese. Despite its simplicity, this dish remains one of Rome's favorites, equally popular throughout the country.
Even though carbonara is considered a typical Roman dish today, its origins are quite vague and often disputed. The name is said to have been derived from the carbonari, woodcutters and charcoal-makers who lived in the Appenine mountains northeast of Rome, and who supposedly cooked their pasta over a hardwood charcoal fire and tossed it with eggs and cheese.
MOST ICONIC Carbonara
View moreInvented by Stefano Callegari in 2008 in Rome, trapizzino is a popular street food item consisting of a pocket of pizza bianca that is typically filled with a meat or vegetable filling – usually classic Roman dishes that would traditionally be impossible to consume on the go.
The tasty trapizzino originated from pizza by-the-slice, and its name is a play on words combining tramezzino (Italian triangular sandwiches) and pizza. This snack should be soft on the inside and crunchy outside, and due to its popularity, it even gained international acclaim and started to appear on the streets of New York as well.
MOST ICONIC Trapizzino
MAIN INGREDIENTS
This ancient dish with Roman origins is regarded as one of the simplest and most satisfying Italian dishes. Cacio e pepe consists of pasta (usually spaghetti), aged Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, and lots of ground black pepper. Since the ingredients are easy to transport and do not spoil easily, it was once the favorite dish of Roman shepherds.
The spicy pepper protected the shepherds from the effects of cold weather during the night, while the pasta provided them with the carbohydrates they needed to perform their back-breaking labor. However, this simple meal is so good that the famous chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain described it by saying it "could be the greatest thing in the history of the world."
MOST ICONIC Cacio e pepe
View morePizza al taglio is a variety of Italian pizza that is baked in rectangular trays and sold sliced into squares or rectangles. Prices can be marked either per slice of pizza or per kilogram. The first pizza al taglio was baked in Rome in the late 1950s, when it was topped with olive oil and tomato sauce.
Today, the dish is one of the most loved street food items both in Rome and in most of Italy. When making pizza al taglio, it is important to let the dough rise and ferment for a longer period of time. The dough is usually baked, topped, and then baked once more, resulting in an evenly-cooked pizza that's light, airy, and easily digestable.
MOST ICONIC Pizza al taglio
View moreWidely considered to be one of Rome's best street foods, these breaded, deep-fried rice croquettes are in fact quite similar to the Sicilian arancini, but unlike which, Roman supplì are traditionally filled with mozzarella, and the rice is pre-simmered in a tomato-based meat sauce.
In Rome, they are popularly known as supplì al telefono, taking their name from an Italianization of the French word for surprise and the long strings of molten cheese that resemble a telephone cord — the surprise that is revealed when you break one of these crispy rice balls open.
MOST ICONIC Supplì
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Porchetta di Ariccia is a savory, moist, boneless pork roast with origins in the province of Rome, along with being a culinary icon of the Lazio region. Mature pigs are deboned and stuffed with numerous seasonings such as fennel, rosemary, and garlic.
The pigs are then slowly roasted on a spit over a wood fire, resulting in succulent meat and crispy skin. The name of the dish stems from the word porco, meaning pork. It is a staple of numerous village festivals, fairs, markets, and concerts, when the street of Rome are packed with food trucks selling this flavorful dish.
OTHER VARIATIONS OF Porchetta
MOST ICONIC Porchetta di Ariccia
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Bruschetta alla romana is a traditional bruschetta variety originating from Rome. Although there are variations, it's made with a combination of bread, cherry tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, capers, salt, and pepper in its classic form. The capers are rinsed in water and coarsely chopped.
The tomatoes are chopped, mixed with the capers, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and the mixture is then spooned over toasted slices of bread that have been rubbed with garlic. If desired, feel free to add black olives, oregano, and basil to the bruschetta mixture for extra flavors and textures.
Another classic of Roman cuisine, penne all’arrabbiata is a pasta dish prepared with a fiery hot sauce made with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and red chili peppers. As the Italian word arrabbiata literally means angry, this meal is often mistranslated as angry pasta – the name, in fact, refers to the pasta’s intense, spicy sauce, which packs such a punch that it can easily make you red in the face.
In the absence of penne, ziti rigati or rigatoni can also be used. Even though it is traditionally enjoyed as an entrée or primo piatto, this simple, yet flavorful pasta recipe certainly holds its own as more than a mere prelude to the main course.
Serve with
MOST ICONIC Penne all'arrabbiata
MAIN INGREDIENTS
This dish is one of the most traditional Roman dishes, and it is deeply rooted in regional cuisine. The name of this Italian classic comes from salti in bocca, meaning it jumps in the mouth, which is exactly what the flavors of saltimbocca do.
The dish consists of tender, pan-fried veal cutlets that are wrapped in Italian prosciutto, flavored with fresh sage, then sautéed in white wine. Even though the original recipe for saltimbocca is supposedly centuries old, the first written trace of this dish was found in Pellegrino Artusi’s 1891 cookbook La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiar Bene, in which he claims to have enjoyed this famed dish at Roman trattoria Le Venete.
MOST ICONIC Saltimbocca alla Romana
View moreMAIN INGREDIENTS
Pasta alla zozzona is a traditional pasta dish originating from Rome. The dish is made with a combination of short pasta such as penne or rigatoni, pork sausage, tomatoes, red wine, olive oil, and grated Pecorino Romano. The sauce is made with all of the ingredients except for the pasta.
Once the pasta has been cooked, it’s mixed with the sauce, and the dish is then served with grated Pecorino cheese on top. The word zozzona in the name of the dish means that something is full of everything and it’s hard to describe, referring to the richness of the dish itself.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Best Roman Food Products
AWARDS
Terraolivo IOOC - Prestige Gold
2019, 2017
Pallini Limoncello Cream is a delicate creamy liqueur that represents the perfect blend of traditional Pallini Limoncello and fresh coconut oil. This infusion is made exclusively from handpicked lemons from the Amalfi Coast, carefully selected for optimal freshness and flavor.
Enjoy this creamy liqueur chilled, on the rocks, or as an addition to your favorite cocktails for a refined and refreshing experience. Pallini Limoncello Cream combines the refreshing taste of lemons with a subtle hint of coconut, offering a unique experience that reflects Mediterranean freshness and Italian tradition.
AWARDS
London Spirits Competition - Gold
2024
The Filetti di Alici Piccanti all’Olio di Oliva by Pollastrini is an Italian specialty, featuring high-quality, hand-selected anchovy fillets preserved in olive oil with a touch of spice. This product is known for its robust and slightly smoky flavor, balanced by the heat of chili peppers, making it a popular addition to antipasti, pizzas, and pasta dishes.
These anchovies are a favorite among seafood connoisseurs who appreciate Mediterranean ingredients prepared with artisanal care.
AWARDS
World's 101 Best Canned Products from the Sea - Top 10 Anchovies
2024
AWARDS
Concours Mondial de Bruxelles - Grande Médaille d'or
2023
AWARDS
Barcelona Beer Challenge - Gold
2022
AWARDS
Olive Japan - Gold
2021
AWARDS
Olive Japan - Gold
2015
AWARDS
Decanter World Wine Awards - Platinum
2019
AWARDS
Decanter World Wine Awards - Platinum
2020
AWARDS
Great Taste Awards - 2 stars
2024
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 43 Roman Foods” list until March 05, 2025, 4,316 ratings were recorded, of which 3,585 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.