Roman cooking is peasant cooking that never left the city: offal from the Testaccio slaughterhouse, sheep's cheese from the Lazio hills, dough left to rise for three days. This route follows it through market stalls, century-old bars and wine cellars.
Rome's sleekest covered market, relocated here in 2012: over 100 stalls under a steel roof raised above unearthed Roman ruins. Open Mon–Sat 07:00–15:30. Box 15 is Sergio Esposito's Mordi e Vai, box 66 Casa Manco's pizza al taglio.
Stefano Callegari invented the trapizzino in 2008: a triangular pocket of twice-risen pizza bianca stuffed with trattoria stews — pollo alla cacciatora, lingua in salsa verde, polpette al sugo. Via Giovanni Branca 88, daily 12:00–01:00.
A 1973 gastronomia on Via Marmorata 47 whose counters hold some 200 cheeses and cured meats: pecorino romano DOP aged 12 months, guanciale from Amatrice, pistachio mortadella. Staff cut samples unprompted. Mon–Sat 08:30–20:15.
A cellar enoteca beneath Piazza Testaccio 41, open since 1990 and stacked floor to ceiling with 500-plus beers and around 1,000 wine labels. The upstairs terrace serves aperitivo boards of cheese, salumi and warm crostini.
Open since 1916 in Esquilino, Regoli set the benchmark for the maritozzo con la panna: a soft sweet bun split and overloaded with unsweetened whipped cream. Via dello Statuto 60, Wed–Mon 06:30–20:00, closed Tuesday.
Run by the Gargioli family since 1961, a twelve-table room on Salita de' Crescenzi 31 serving Roman classics: rigatoni alla gricia, coda alla vaccinara, torta antica Roma. Lunch Mon–Fri 12:30–15:00 only.
Part deli, part 2,800-label wine cellar at Via dei Giubbonari 21. The afternoon slot belongs to the counter: burrata from Andria, 36-month Parma, bottarga di muggine, and vertical tastings of Lazio whites poured by the glass.
Twenty minutes out on tram 8 to Monteverde, where Leonardo Vignoli turned a suburban trattoria into a benchmark for fried starters — supplì with a glass-thin shell, filetti di baccalà — and a carbonara built on egg yolk alone.
A Prati bar trading since 1919, all dark wood and brass, known for the caffè eccellente: espresso poured into a cup lined with melted dark chocolate. Via Fabio Massimo 80/A, Mon–Sat 07:00–20:30.
Gabriele Bonci's 20-square-metre counter beside the Vatican walls, open since 2003, sells pizza al taglio on 72-hour-fermented dough with toppings that rotate daily — potato and mozzarella, mortadella and fig. Sold by weight.
Arcangelo Dandini's shop on Via dei Banchi Vecchi 143 is devoted to the supplì: fried rice croquettes with a molten mozzarella core, plus versions with chicken giblets or cacio e pepe. Mon–Sat 12:00–16:00 and 17:00–21:00.
A wine bar since the mid-1980s inside a 15th-century bishop's house with painted ceiling beams, 800 labels chalked on the wall and about 30 open by the glass. Cheese and salumi plates only — there is no kitchen.