Even though famous for its hearty first and second courses such as bucatini amatriciana and coda alla vaccinara oxtail, there is a whole range of street food in Rome you can eat if you are traveling on a budget or rushing from one landmark to the next.
During the day, in fact, it’s not always possible to spend too much time in a restaurant for lunch, so if you are more into a meal on the go to keep going, in Rome you have a large choice of delicacies. The most traditional Roman street foods include pizza by the slice, panino with porchetta sandwich, and deep-fried supplì and zucchini flowers.
This article is a guide to the most typical street food in Rome popular and beloved by Romans but in the same places, you are going to find plenty of modern variants such as plant-based versions to meet everyone’s taste and dietary needs.
Hungry yet? Let’s tuck into hearty and fulfilling street food in Rome.
Famous street food in Rome to try at least once
Pizza al taglio and Roman pinsa
Pizza by the slice is probably the first street food you will find in Rome. Available in the most different places from the local rosticceria to the supermarket chains, the quality of pizza al taglio is not the same everywhere. For your pizza by the slice, I suggest you opt for quality Roman bakeries or the best pizza places in Rome.
In Rome, a good pizzeria is hardly ever empty, even though not every place sees the endless lines of Bonci’s Pizzarium. When a pizza place has a continuous stream of customers, their pizza is always fresh and crunchy. You will find the most different range of toppings, from cured meat to roasted veggies, but it’s of paramount importance that they are fresh and seasonal.
I have included the Roman pinsa together with pizza by the slice because they are similar even though they are not the same product. Also the oval-shaped Roman pinsa is served with a variety of toppings and makes for a fantastic lunch on the go.
Pizza bianca e “mortazza”
Even though in Rome they call it “pizza bianca”, it’s more like focaccia, and Romans love it stuffed with what they call “mortazza” which simply is mortadella in the local dialect. You won’t necessarily find it in the typical pizza places but often in bakeries (forni) and delis gourmet food shops that usually make also sandwiches.
This is a very tasty sandwich you can opt for if you are in Rome for a very short time and are in a rush to visit as much as possible. Apart from the mortadella cold cuts, most places serve the delicious Roman focaccia stuffed with other ingredients including spinach and cheese.
Supplì
Alongside pizza by the slice, supplì is another street food in Rome available in most rosticcerie, local delis, and street food places. Supplì is a deep-fried rice ball with a heart of mozzarella. In Rome, it’s called “supplì al telefono”, literally standing for “over the phone” because when you eat it, the stringy cheese will look like a phone cable.
The classic Roman supplì is made with meat ragout sauce and stretch-curd cheese. In delis and street food places, however, you can find many different versions, including the cacio e pepe, inspired by the beloved classic Roman pasta.
Panino con porchetta
This is a typical street food in Rome and it consists of a hearty sandwich stuffed with porchetta, roasted piglet seasoned with a mix of spices. It’s known as “porchetta romana” but the most famous is from Ariccia, a town part of the Castelli Romani south of Rome. This sandwich is fantastic eaten warm but it’s available also cold. Together with porchetta, you can also find sandwiches stuffed with sausage, “salsiccia” in Italian, or “sarciccia” in Roman dialect!
If you want to taste the real porchetta in Rome, near Piazza del Popolo there is the famous deli “La vita è un mozzico” (Via Angelo Brunetti 4), Roman style for “life is a bite”, where you can also buy local cheese and other cold cuts. If you want to enjoy your sandwich sitting, in the Esquilino neighborhood not far from Termini station is Er Buchetto (Via del Viminale 2).
Deep-fried zucchini flowers
Deep-fried zucchini flowers are very common both as street food in Rome and as appetizers on restaurants’ menus. Here, you will see them mentioned as “fiori di zucca in pastella”, with pastella meaning the flour batter they cover the zucchini flowers with before deep-frying them.
The zucchini flowers are stuffed with fiordilatte or mozzarella fresh cheese and anchovies before being fried. This is a delicacy that you can enjoy as a snack in the afternoon or as a starter of a typical Roman meal.
Fried baccalà codfish
Like the zucchini flowers, also the fried codfish are often seen as starters in typical Roman restaurants and also as easy food on the go in street food places, delis, rosticcerie, tavola calda, and very often also in takeaway pizzerias.
One of the most famous places to have a warm and crunchy fried cod fillet is the oh-so-Roman Dar Filettaro (Largo dei Librari 88) near Campo de’ Fiori. Here, you can opt for a takeaway and enjoy walking around the area or grabbing a table of the rustic trattoria.
Gelato
Can we consider gelato street food? While I don’t suggest replacing a full meal with gelato, it certainly makes a great snack, especially in summer. You can choose to enjoy your gelato in a cup or a cone, on the go, or grab a seat if the gelateria has tables and chairs.
Italians have grown always more demanding when it comes to gelato and in Rome, you can find countless all-natural gelaterias. The gelato flavors are countless and depending on the gelateria and the imagination of the mastro gelataio, you can find more or less daring ingredients and combinations.
Grattachecca
I know we eat gelato all year round, and I admit to being guilty of that, but when it comes to grattachecca, I can only have it on the hottest days of summer. This is basically shaved ice topped with different flavored syrups.
You can always find the original Roman grattacheccha in the typical green kiosks along the banks of the river in the city center. This is a street food in Rome you can enjoy when it’s very hot because it’s very refreshing, but it certainly doesn’t make a meal. All-natural gelato made with ingredients like nuts and fruits is more nutritious than the grattachecca.
Maritozzi
Maritozzo is the king of Roman pastries. A sweet bun cut in half and filled with whipped cream, maritozzo is so popular that always more cafes and pastry shops in Rome are offering it in different versions such as enriched with fruits or chocolate, while some restaurants are also serving them savory and making them a full meal.
Roasted chestnuts (Caldarroste)
Known in Rome as “caldarroste”, you will see street vendors roasting and selling warm chestnuts inside paper cones from November throughout winter in Rome, especially around Christmas. They start roasting in the morning, so you can really have them any time you feel hungry since they are pretty much around every corner in the city center, especially in Piazza Navona and in Piazza Venezia at the beginning of Via del Corso.
WANT TO READ THIS LATER? PIN IT TO YOUR BOARD!
