5 best pizzerias to visit in Rome

Chef patron Jacob Kenedy shares his favourite spots to get a slice in the Italian capital
Jacob Kenedy10 February 2017

Rome serves pizza fit for the gods. From the humble margherita to courgette blossoms and figs for the more adventurous, here are the top five pizza places to visit in Rome...

Ai Marmi

Its real name is Panattoni, but everyone calls it 'Ai Marmi' (the marble slabs) after the tables, or for the same reason 'l’Obitorio' (the morgue). It’s open late, and offers the best pizza romana (thin, charred, crispy round pizza) in Trastevere – Rome’s answer to the Rive Gauche. It’s open late (evenings only, ‘til 2am) and one of my two favourite eateries in a beautiful area, great to wander round of an evening, the other being the inimitable Da Enzo, one of Rome’s most perfect trattorie.

I particularly like its typicality – busy, hectic, loud, fast, brash and delicious – look out for the mama controlling the action from a podium-type till – waiters run payments and change to and from her, but she’s the true matron, and the only one trusted to count the cash. Order filetti di baccalà (fried salt cod) and supplì (tomato-rice & mozzarella croquettes) to start, and a simple pizza (margherita or fiori e salsiccia – courgette blossoms & sausage – as a main)

Viale di Trastevere, 53, 00153 Roma, Italy,

Forno Campo de Fiori

This bakery, situated right on Campo de Fiori (check out the market, which still sells some of the most beautiful produce from Lazio’s hills and fields – and the hooded statue of Giordano Bruno just outside , on the site where he was burned at the stake), has been baking Rome’s ‘other’ pizza (very very long pizza al taglio, thicker oily base, sold piping hot by the slice for next to nothing) since 1819.

Other than the ultra-convenient and romantic location, the only reason to go is pizza al taglio – have the classic ‘bianca’ (potato & rosemary), ‘rosso’ (tomato & oregano), and in fig season (September-October), prosciutto & fig. Eat on the hoof in the piazza outside.

Vicolo del Gallo, 14, 00186 Roma, Italy, fornocampodefiori.com

Pizzarium Bonci

Bonci is a pizza visionary and revolutionary – he has taken the pizza al taglio to a new level with inspired, playful, joyous and above all delicious toppings. Pizza al taglio is the only kind of pizza you can make truly well at home, and Bonci’s books are the only literature any cook should have, if they want to turn making pizza into an act of love at home. Vogue dubs Gabriele Bonci ‘the Michelangelo of pizza’ – it may not be wrong.

The offerings are highly seasonal – but try a bit of everything (it’s all sold by weight) – my favourites are those dressed with salads, grilled vegetables and the like after baking – sort of salads on a pizza base.

Via della Meloria, 43, 00136 Roma, Italy, bonci.it

Pizzeria da Remo

Da Remo, in Testaccio, a hipster area of Rome, home to the ancient meat market and hence heartland of quinto quarto, the ‘fifth quarter’ – offal – that is the backbone of Roman cooking, is on a hill that grew over the centuries out of discarded Roman amphorae. Da Remo is arguably the place to go for classic pizza romana – super-thin, super-crispy, super-cheap and super-good.

Order a classic – margherita, marinara, or diavola (spicy salame) – or, as ever, pizza Bianca with courgette flowers and sausage, which is the litmus test of any great pizzeria – will be the best thing in the world, or disappointing and flaccid (not here), but in either event at least you’ll know if you came somewhere good. Do not come for lunch, as you will be frustrated – da Remo opens from 6pm.

Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice, 44, 00153 Roma, Italy

Sforno

When in Rome, for the most part, do as the Romans do – pizza thin and crispy and charred. But most Brits I know prefer the Neapolitan style (don’t ask me why – I’m a Romanist, and hence that is what I serve at Vico), and Stefano Callegari at Sforno seems to too. He is also a rebel, and reinvented the wheel with his cacio e pepe – a pizza baked with ice on it (and ice alone) to keep the top moist, then liberally dusted with grated pecorino romano and pepper – a riff on Rome’s signature pasta. It is such a flash of genius that I nicked it for Vico, though I of course put it on a Roman base.

Chef Callegari is also a dab hand at fritti (that is the classic order at a pizza restaurant – for ultimate anti-diet, that’s fried food followed by pizza) – try his fried courgette flowers and inventive supplì (perhaps try the gricia version, another twist on a classic pasta dish), and then without a doubt, the signature pizza cacao e pepe.

Via Statilio Ottato, 110/116, 00175 Roma, Italy, sforno.it

Jacob Kenedy is the chef patron at Bocca di Lupo, Gelupo and Vico.

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