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.

In 1993, the Gupta family opened Himalaya Palace, one of the first restaurants to introduce tandoor cooking to Italy. Their longevity in the Gianicolense district has proven customer demand for North Indian cooking in the typically seasoning-averse Italian capital. Their loyal clientele come for succulent chicken makhani, smoky baingan bharta, and tangy paneer tikka.

Rome’s premier pizza innovator and Trapizzino inventor Stefano Callegari opened his first trattoria in late 2021 just north of the Vatican Museums. The menu is a blend of decadent Roman classics like polpette di bollito (fried meatballs made from pulled braised beef) and fun twists on tradition— the fettuccine al tortellino features handmade pasta strands drenched in a creamy sauce enriched with prosciutto, mortadella, and Parmigiano-Reggiano, evoking the rich filling of tortellini. Romanè is part of the Piatto del Buon Ricordo Association, which has recognized traditional Italian regional cuisine since 1964. If you opt for the trattoria’s specialties as indicated on the menu, you’ll get a hand-painted plate as a souvenir.

Chef Davide Puleio began his career in fine dining in Rome before racking up an impressive pedigree abroad at Noma in Copenhagen and L’Alchimia in Milan. At his namesake restaurant near the Vatican (which swaps the “i” in Puleio’s surname for a “j,” a nod to the Roman dialect), which opened in 2022 and quickly earned a Michelin star, the chef puts his training and technique to work with Italian flavors. Take the Mi-Ro (Milano-Roma, a play on the Milano-Torino cocktail), for example: The dish merges the signature saffron-tinted risotto of Milan with Rome’s beloved cocoa powder-seasoned braised oxtail. Sea buckthorn, a defining ingredient at Noma, accents hearty Italian flavors in a dish of roasted duck with mushrooms, chestnuts, and sea urchins. In addition to the a la carte menu, there are five- and seven-course tasting menus (obligatory for parties of more than four guests).

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.

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.

Chef Antonio Ziantoni trained at Rome’s ultra-contemporary, two-Michelin-starred restaurant Il Pagliaccio, as well as restaurants in France and the U.K., before opening Zia with his partner Ida Proietti in Trastevere in 2018. Zia’s service and cuisine were recognized with a Michelin star the following year. The a la carte menu (which has a three-dish minimum) features items like spaghetti with sweet peppers and chervil, and sea bass with potatoes and herb pesto. There are tasting menus of six or eight courses as well, and the fine dining service has a formal, ceremonial feel to it.

Bruno Persiani, an Umbrian transplant to the Italian capital, opened this homey trattoria in southern Trastevere in 1968 to serve a mix of dishes from Umbria and Rome. Tavernaccia is now run by Persiani’s daughters and Sardinian son-in-law, who throws in a few of his own regional specialties like suckling pig cooked in the wood-fired oven. The fresh pastas are excellent (especially Sunday’s lasagna, which sells out fast), and the wood oven-roasted brisket is otherworldly. Organic and natural wines from Italy and Slovenia round out the wine list. The service is patient and unbelievably kind — far from the norm in the Italian capital, so don’t get used to it.

Routinely named among the best places to drink in Europe, this long-established craft beer pub in Trastevere pours around a dozen draft beers from Italy, the U.S., Belgium, Germany, and the U.K., in addition to a small but well-curated assortment of bottles. The staff is passionate and knowledgeable, and can guide you to the right choice for your palate. It’s worth waiting for the few tables on the street outside, set up during the pandemic, which offer a front row seat to Trastevere’s lively nightlife. Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fà is open every day of the year — even on Christmas, Easter, Ferragosto, and New Year’s.

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.

Marco Radicioni trained with Rome’s gelato maestro Claudio Torcè, embracing his sensibility of all-natural flavors, meticulous sourcing, and restrained sweetness. Since striking out on his own, Radicioni has grown into a maestro in his own right, churning some of the most exquisite gelato in Italy. Otaleg’s rich and creamy gelato is made from high-quality ingredients like Valrhona and Amedei chocolate, and IGP Tonda Gentile Romana hazelnuts. The fruit, chocolate, and nut sorbets are intense and delicious.

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.

The Testaccio neighborhood market is the best place in central Rome to shop for seasonal produce, meat, fish, and baked goods all in one place. Get there in the morning to see it in full swing (it’s open Monday through Saturday until 2 p.m.). Visit Da Artenio (Box 90) for takeaway pizza slices and pizzette, little pizzas topped with tomato sauce, potatoes, or onions. Don’t miss the essential Mordi e Vai (Box 15), where the Esposito family prepares sandwiches filled with offal and meat based on generations-old recipes, including disappearing historic dishes like alesso di scottona (simmered brisket). Nearby Da Corrado (Box 18) sells natural wines, artisan cheeses, and a handful of hot dishes — including some of the best polpette (meatballs) in town — while Casa Manco (Box 22) serves naturally leavened pizza by the slice by weight.

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.

After more than a decade of selling Italian and French cheeses and wine at the edge of the historic Ghetto of Rome, Beppe e I Suoi Formaggi renovated and considerably downsized its space and menu. Now the single dining room is mostly occupied by the incredible array of cheeses made by, among others, owner Beppe Giovale. The menu is predictably dairy focused with cheese plates, as well as butter and ricotta, which are paired with salted anchovies and honey, respectively, alongside natural vino. The wine list features collaborations with wine makers like Sicily’s Nino Barraco. Beppe e I Suoi Formaggi also expanded to a stall in the Mercato Trionfale in late 2021. 

Just 100 feet from Rome’s most intact ancient monument, Armando al Pantheon champions local food traditions. For more than five decades, the Gargioli family has been dutifully producing Roman classics like spaghetti ajo ojo e peperoncino (spaghetti with garlic, oil, and chile) and coda alla vaccinara (oxtail braised in tomato and celery). Among the seasonal side dishes, look for puntarelle (Catalonian chicory) with anchovy sauce and carciofi alla romana (simmered artichokes) in the cooler months. Save room for the torta antica Roma, a ricotta and strawberry jam pie. The lovingly curated wine list gets better every year. Online booking is essential and opens (and books up) one month ahead.

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.

After years of pop-ups in their apartment, baker Sofie Wochner and chef Domenico Cortese inaugurated Marigold. The operation is part bakery, focused on naturally leavened breads and pastries, and part cafe, focused on hyper-local, foraged, and seasonal ingredients. The dining room’s light-filled, spartan interior is open for morning and midday meals from Wednesday to Sunday. The menu is vegetable-driven, offering a pleasing break from Rome’s seemingly nonstop carbonara train, with dishes like beets with roasted carrots, peaches, and labneh, or lupini bean hummus with herbs, green beans, hazelnuts, and plums.

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.

Trecca is, for lack of a better term, a neo-trattoria. It delivers everything a Roman trattoria should: an informal setting, rigorously seasonal comfort food, and an offal-forward menu. But there’s also a natural wine list, an Instagram page, and two young brothers at the helm. Manuel and Nicolò Trecastelli lean into Rome’s powerful flavors and rich ingredients. Their carbonara and amatriciana are as loaded with pepper-spiked guanciale as any in the city, and tomato and vinegar are employed in the meaty mains to offset their unctuousness.

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. Book well in advance and try for a Sunday, when Colline Emiliane serves delicate, bechamel-laced lasagna.

In early 2022, acclaimed Sicilian chef Ciccio Sultano opened Giano in the W Hotel, where the warm spaces are replete with plush velvet couches and wood-clad walls. Lunch is geared towards elevated, earthy island classics like insalata finocchi e arancia, which features flavorful fennel and seasonal citrus, and pacchero fuori Norma, tubular house-extruded pasta heaped with fried eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and grated ricotta salata. Meanwhile, the dinner menu is a celebration of the Sicilian sea and mountains, with dishes like tagliolini with artichokes and sweet red shrimp from Mazara del Vallo, as well as suckling pig from the Nebrodi Mountains. Fulfilling its role as a hotel restaurant, Giano also serves breakfast and aperitivo daily, as well as a Sunday “Bella Brunch.”

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.

A short walk from the Colosseum, Tempio di Iside is an elegant fish restaurant known for its crudi (raw dishes) like fish carpaccio, sea urchin roe, langoustines, and oysters. The pasta with sweet red shrimp, cherry tomatoes, and fresh pecorino is excellent (and proof there are valid exceptions to the “no cheese with seafood” rule), as are the spaghetti with clams, whole roasted fish, and pasta with spiny lobster. Book ahead, especially to secure an outdoor table for dinner in the summer, and expect to pay a premium for access to some of the freshest fish around.

On paper, Dogma’s house-milled flour, farm-to-table sensibility, and self-described ethical approach to sourcing could play like a trinity of cliches. But the work of young co-founders Alessandra Serramondi and Gabriele Di Lecce feels entirely earnest. After more than a decade in fine dining focusing on seafood, chef Di Lecce has crafted a style that balances attention to detail with accessibility. Dishes like skate-filled bottoni with cultured butter and oregano, or turbot with zucchini and foyot sauce pair brilliantly with minerality-driven white wines. The 40-euro five-course tasting menu is an absolute steal.

Located southeast of the center, Sbanco serves thick-rimmed pizzas baked in a domed, wood-burning Valoriani oven alongside draft beers. Toppings range from classic margherita and marinara to creative cacio e pepe. There’s even a stack of seven margherita pizzas known as lasagna di pizza. Sbanco also serves lots of crispy fritti (fried starters) including supplì carbonara (rice croquettes flavored with the classic carbonara ingredients) and fiori di zucca (battered and fried squash blossoms stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy).

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.

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.