The quality of pastries and coffee served around the Vatican Museums entrance is notoriously abysmal. Or at least it was until Love Specialty Croissants opened a few blocks north of the busiest place in town. The pastry case is loaded with French- and Italian-style laminated delights, both savory and sweet, while the caffeinated beverages are derived from single-origin beans selected and roasted by Rome’s own Aliena Coffee Roasters. Pastry and coffee worlds collide in the Moon Love, a flaky pastry crescent filled with coffee cream and topped coffee crumble and more cream.

Colombian chef Roy Caceres is a veteran of Roman fine dining. His landmark, Michelin-starred restaurant, Metamorfosi, didn’t survive the pandemic, but his signature dishes have found a place at Orma (an anagram of Roma) just a few blocks southeast of the Galleria Borghese. Orma is home to a number of distinct concepts: The bistrot is a power-lunch spot set on a shaded terrace, the cocktail bar specializes in tropical fruit- and herb-forward drinks, and the restaurant offers tasting menus and a la carte dishes that blend Caceres’s Colombian heritage with Italian flavors and ingredients. Fans of the chef’s Uovo 65° Carbonara (a soft-cooked egg floating in Parmigiano-Reggiano foam, served with a side of puffed pasta and tender strips of guanciale) will find it in the bistrot, while the restaurant serves his renowned lacquered eel with pickled onions.

Gabriele Bonci’s landmark pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice) shop near the Vatican Museums has become a globally acclaimed landmark where cold-fermented, heirloom wheat-based dough is topped with exquisite produce from biodynamic farms and artisanal cured meats and cheeses. Most toppings change from day to day, or even hour to hour, but Pizzarium’s signatures (tomato-oregano and potato-mozzarella) are always available. There are only a few high-top tables outside and no seating, so don’t wear yourself out too much wandering the museums before stopping by.

Residents and visitors desperate for spice don’t have many options in Rome, where locals often lament that even black pepper is too piquant. It’s a small miracle, therefore, that Tianci Chongqing Farm Hot Pot has opened — and thrived — in the chile-averse Italian capital. A short walk from the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain, the restaurant treats diners to bubbling cauldrons of broth (served as garlic and chile-laden as you’d like) for cooking vegetables, seafood, noodles, meat, and offal.

A short walk from the Trevi Fountain, this friendly trattoria has been serving satisfying dishes from Emilia-Romagna, a region in northeastern Italy, since 1931; the current owners took the helm in 1967. The menu is rich in egg-based house-made pastas like tortelli di zucca (pumpkin pasta with butter and sage) and tagliatelle alla bolognese (long strands of fresh, egg-based pasta dressed with a rich meat sauce). Save room for meaty mains including bollito misto (assorted simmered meats) and fried liver. 

Chef Arcangelo Dandini, known for his formal ristorante L’Arcangelo in Prati, opened this casual street food-inspired spot on the ground floor of a Renaissance building in central Rome in order to bring his fried specialties and signature finger foods to the masses. The name is inspired by suppli, Roman rice balls, which are served in assorted flavors alongside other fried classics, including crocchette di patate (potato croquettes), polpette di alici (anchovy “meatballs”), and, the most decadent of all, crema fritta (pastry cream).

After Settimio al Pellegrino, a cult favorite featured on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, shuttered in 2022, Leonardo Vignoli and Maria Pia Cicconi (of Cesare al Casaletto fame) resurrected the restaurant. They’ve retained the institution’s signature tiled floors, midcentury furniture, and infamous doorbell required for customers to gain access. The trattoria near Campo dei Fiori serves a succinct menu, including minestra con broccoli e arzilla (romanesco and skate soup) and former chef-owner Teresa Zazza’s legendary pan-fried meatballs. The wine list is packed with affordable natural vino.

In the southwest corner of one of Rome’s most touristy squares, Forno Campo de’ Fiori bakes sweet and savory Roman specialties like jam tarts and flatbreads. Look for pizza alla pala (long slabs baked directly in a deep electric deck oven), which is sold in slices by weight; the unctuous toppings and crispy bases make a surprisingly balanced pair. The pizza con mortadella, perfectly salty slices of pizza bianca sandwiching thin slices of mortadella, is one of the best bites in town.

The Regoli family were originally charcoal makers from Tuscany, but when they came to Rome they opened Pasticceria Regoli in 1916. Since then the family has transformed their small operation into one of the city’s most beloved pastry shops. The display cases are packed with cakes, wild strawberry tarts, maritozzi (whipped cream-filled buns), and seasonal treats like bigne in March, colombe at Easter, and pandoro at Christmas. Get your pastries packaged to take away, or order at the counter and the kitchen will send the items to your table at the neighboring Caffé Regoli, which also serves coffee.

Fasika and Giovanni Ghirlanda run this historic Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant just off the ancient Via Prenestina, not far from the Villa Gordiani public park. Deeply flavored simmered vegetables and legumes, along with perfectly seasoned chicken and beef stews, are served on house-made injera.

Founded in the Historic Center in 2004 by Rome’s premier baking family, Salumeria Roscioli does triple duty as a deli, wine bar, and restaurant. Though the menu is extensive, the real stars are the cheeses (burrata with semi-dried tomatoes is spectacular), cured meats (Culaccia and mortadella with Parmigiano-Reggiano are both stellar), and pasta classics (get the gricia, cacio e pepe, amatriciana, or carbonara). If you dine at lunch or on the early side at dinner, the bread basket will include warm bread from nearby Antico Forno Roscioli. The wine list is wide-ranging, and don’t miss the distilled spirits before closing out the meal. Be sure to book online well in advance and reserve a ground-floor, bar counter, or outdoor table so you don’t get stuck in the basement.

The dishes at Casalino, a kosher restaurant on the main street in Rome’s Jewish quarter, are inspired by traditions of the historic ghetto, which tend toward fried vegetables like carciofi alla giudia (deep-fried artichokes) and verdure in pastella (assorted battered vegetables), as well as humble fish offerings like tortino di alici (baked anchovies). Along with centuries-old Roman Jewish classics, Casalino also serves more modern dishes like carbonara with tuna instead of guanciale and cacio e pepe with crispy squash blossoms.

For more than three centuries, Rome’s Jewish community was confined to a walled ghetto along the Tiber River. The squalid buildings are long gone, but a historic ghetto-era bakery survives on what has become the transformed neighborhood’s main thoroughfare. The pizza ebraica — an almond flour-based fruit cake studded with nuts, raisins, and candied fruits — is an easy specialty to eat on the go, but it’s worth seeking out a bench to get messy with a slice of the spectacular ricotta and sour-cherry tart. Also try the amaretti and biscotti made with heaps of cinnamon and a generous smattering of whole almonds.

Trapizzino is a small street food chain with locations throughout Italy (and an outpost in New York). The concept is based on the trapizzino, a combination of the popular triangular tramezzino sandwich with long, slowly leavened pizza dough, invented by pizzaiolo Stefano Callegari in 2009. Callegari fills his tricornered creations with Roman classics like oxtail simmered with tomato and celery, chicken cacciatore, and tripe cooked with tomato, each going for just 5 euros or less. Most locations provide a quick, affordable meal, but the branch in Trastevere also offers table service and a full bar highlighting wines and beers from across Lazio.

Be sure to secure an online reservation before ringing the bell at number 10 on Via del Moro in Trastevere. The cool, windowless inner sanctum only has a handful of tables lining two walls, and they fill up quickly with 90-minute reservation slots beginning at 6 p.m. The interior design evokes the Orient Express with wooden accents and overhead racks above the seating, and the bartenders’ wardrobe and glassware are a throwback to the last century too. The menu of bottled classic cocktails, Champagne, and non-alcoholic drinks provides an oasis of refinement in the heart of Rome’s rowdy nightlife district.

Latteria Trastevere is a wine bar and bistro in Rome’s nightlife epicenter focused on natural vino, cheeses, and cured meats culled from tiny, sought-after producers across Italy. There are some hot dishes too, and Sardinian owner Antonio Cossu brings in island specialties like sa fregola (pearl couscous) with crab and bottles from Barbagia, one of Sardinia’s most delicious wine regions. As a bonus, Latteria is open nearly every day of the year.

Located in the sprawling Centocelle district in eastern Rome, Menabò Vino e Cucina offers a veritable tour of Italian regional comfort food. Rigatoni is served with oniony braised beef in the style of Naples, while pasta with chickpeas and mussels evoke the coastal south. Meanwhile, unctuous local classics like pasta alla gricia get punched up with fresh, seasonal twists such as grapes or figs. As the name promises, wine shares the stage with the kitchen’s creations, and the list is populated primarily by naturally and traditionally made wines.

At the edge of the Circus Maximus, basically sitting on top of the ruins, Circoletto is a natural wine bar and craft beer pub that serves small plates and panini drawing on the bold, seasonal flavors of Rome and its suburbs. There’s a decided emphasis on offal — tongue pastrami is sandwiched between crisp strata of pizza bianca, while head cheese is served unadorned — and a spectrum of meat dishes, including mutton tartare and grilled skirt steak. Fish makes an appearance in the forms of marinated anchovies and fried cod filets, and there’s always an array of vegetables, like romanesco cooked in oil until buttery soft.

After a career working in Roman gourmet temples like Salumeria Roscioli, Pasquale Borriello struck out on his own in 2022. His small shop in Trastevere near the church of San Francesco a Ripa has a few high-top tables where you can sip natural wine or craft beer alongside Italy’s greatest cheeses. All the big names are on the menu — Parmigiano-Reggiano, gorgonzola, and mozzarella di bufala among them — but Borriello favors the smallest and most artisanal producers of these famous styles. There is also an impressive array of goat- and cow-milk blue cheeses from celebrated affineur Andrea Magi. In addition to formaggio, Forme sells cured meats, sandwiches, and pantry items like jars of obscure marinated vegetables.

Chef Sarah Cicolini started in fine dining kitchens, but her forte is expertly executed trattoria fare that channels the soulful simplicity of Rome’s peasant classics — a refreshing change in a city where young chefs frequently try and fail to modernize the local cuisine. Diners visit Cicolini’s small dining room in the residential Appio-Latino quarter for carbonara, amatriciana, and a wide range of quinto quarto (offal) dishes, like delicate trippa alla romana (tripe cooked with tomato and seasoned with pecorino Romano and mint). Don’t overdo it with the savory dishes so you can fully enjoy desserts like the maritozzo (cream-filled bun) made with smoky grano arso flour.

Casa Manfredi opened in 2015 on a shady stretch of Viale Aventino, a tree-lined residential avenue between Circo Massimo and Testaccio. Like many cafes in Rome, it offers coffee and pastries to customers standing at the counter and seated at some outside tables. But what sets it apart is its exceptional coffee program and the absolutely exquisite pastries made by Giorgia Proia, who laminates croissants (both sweet and savory) and fills maritozzi (Rome’s classic leavened breakfast brioche) with clouds of ethereal whipped cream. In the summer months, Casa Manfredi makes gelato; ask for a few scoops stuffed into a maritozzo for the ultimate warm weather treat.

Located in Testaccio, Rome’s undisputed offal capital, Piatto Romano focuses on classics like rigatoni con la pajata (pasta with milk-fed veal intestines cooked in tomato sauce) and fettuccine con le rigaglie di pollo (fettuccine with chicken innards). There are plenty of pescatarian options as well, like the outstanding cod baked with onions, pine nuts, apricots, and prunes, and pan-fried anchovies spiked with vinegar and chile pepper. To top it off, the vegetable dishes are incredible, especially the foraged greens salad with anchovy dressing and sumac, and the marinated, grilled squashes.

Following careers in fine dining in Italy and abroad, Leonardo Vignoli and Maria Pia Cicconi went back to basics with Cesare al Casaletto, a straightforward trattoria the husband-and-wife duo took over in 2009. The menu features Roman classics with a few restrained twists, like fried gnocchi served on a pool of cacio e pepe sauce. The pasta alla gricia has achieved cult status, the suckling lamb mains are exceptional, and the beverage list spotlights stunningly affordable natural wines from Italy, France, and Slovenia. Cesare isn’t particularly close to any monuments but is easily accessible by public transit — though don’t rule out a post-lunch stroll through the nearby Villa Pamphili, a vast public park.

Pizza maestro Marco Quintili opened his second location in Rome in July 2020, where he marries thick-rimmed Neapolitan pies with Roman flavors. Classic Neapolitan starters like frittatine (pasta croquettes) are flavored with cacio e pepe or amatriciana sauce, while the carbonara pizza channels Rome’s most famous sauce as a topping. Quintili’s dough is ethereal, highly digestible, and the product of years of thoughtful trial and error. The hydration of the dough, temperature of the oven, and bake time are all perfectly calibrated to create a pizza that is stable, not soupy like so many Neapolitan pies.

Located a short distance from Stazione Trastevere, C’è Pasta… e Pasta (translation: “There’s pasta… and pasta”) serves delicious kosher meals to eat in or take away. Order at the counter and don’t miss Roman Jewish classics like carciofi alla giudia (fried artichokes), filetti di baccala (battered fried cod), aliciotti con l’indivia (layered anchovy and frisee casserole), and concia (fried and marinated zucchini). As the name promises, they also serve pasta dishes and sell fresh pasta to cook at home.

To get to Latta Fermenti e Miscele, descend the steep ramp from street level to the ground floor of a former industrial complex, which has been transformed to accommodate a number of bars and restaurants. This standout among the options offers friendly service and a bar program celebrating Italy’s bittersweet and botanical flavors in the form of cocktails, natural wines, and craft beer.

The spartan decor of Triticum, an artisanal bakery in Rome’s Marconi district, focuses visitors’ attention immediately on the counter, which displays a selection of savory and sweet baked goods. Options include thick and spongy tomato and olive focaccia, pizza alla pala (flatbread baked on the oven stone and sold by the slice), cinnamon rolls, and laminated pastries. Behind the counter, there’s a wall of sourdough breads that pair brilliantly with spreads from Marco Colzani and honey from Miele Thun, both of which are sold in the shop.

After nearly 30 years at the helm of Rome’s first Thai restaurant, Beijing-born chef Ge Jing Hua opened Sinosteria in 2020 to serve a blend of Chinese regional cuisines like Beijing-style tripe with chile oil and cilantro, and Shandong-inspired squid with peppers, ginger, and bamboo. There are also signature creations like basmati rice with coconut milk, shrimp, capers, and oregano from Pantelleria. The front of house is expertly managed by Ge’s gregarious sommelier son Jun, whose natural wine list and coffee menu are outstanding.