The flavors of Sicily in Rome

To welcome spring, my partners and I are kicking off a series of Sicilian food and wine events hosted in Rome. If you love Sicilian flavors, and you'll be in Rome April 2-3, you should seriously consider attending!

The April 2-3 events were made possible thanks to partnerships with Casa Mia Tours, Chef Linda Sarris, aka The Cheeky Chef, and Sicilian food and wine sponsors. I can't wait to introduce them to you!

Check out the program of events:

Tuesday, April 2, 2019 | Sun, Sea & Soil Aperitivo

Join us for a Sicilian aperitivo at ProLoco Trastevere on Tuesday April 2, 2019 at 6:30 p.m.

Three of the most important ingredients in Sicilian cooking are sun, sea, and soil. Chef Linda Sarris from Palermo will cook up delicious Sicilian appetizers such as freshly made panelle (organic stone-milled chickpea fritters with lemon and fresh mint); fried anchovies and wild field greens; tomasini di russello (savory dough made from ancient grains filled with ricotta, sausage, and wild fennel seeds); Sicilian bruschetta topped with pesto trapanese, caper paté and sun-dried tomatoes. There will also be a tagliere featuring Sicilian cured meats and cheeses, like salame Nero Ibleo, and prized Ragusano cheese. Sicilian wine pairings and Sicilian amaro will be served. Signature cocktails will be available for purchase.

SICILIAN APERITIVO April 2, 2019 ProLoco Trastevere – Via Goffredo Mameli 23 – 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are available for purchase on Eventbrite ~ €25 per person, includes 2 glasses of wine, amaro and appetizer buffet.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019 | Sicilian cooking lesson at Casa Mia

Join a Sicilian cooking lesson in Rome on April 3rd, 2019. Aprons on at 6 p.m.

Thanks to the many cultures who have called this island their home, Sicily's layered food history is filled with ingredients and cooking techniques that you don't see in other parts of Italy.

In the kitchen, Chef Linda Sarris will teach guests about the importance of seasonal cooking with high-quality products and share her own simple recipes that you can recreate at home.

Following the lesson, guests will enjoy a dinner together, sipping Sicilian wines.

The four-course menu with wine pairings will feature an antipasto of organic stone-milled chickpea fritters with lemon and parsley; a first course of organic busiate pasta made from semola di grano duro, cauliflower, passolina raisins, toasted breadcrumbs and pine nuts. Our main course will be calamari stuffed with artichokes, capers and mint. No meal is complete without dolce, and no Sicilian meal is complete without hand-made cannoli with ricotta cream and candied orange peel.
Dishes will be paired with natural Sicilian wines, also poured throughout the cooking class.

SICILIAN COOKING LESSON Via Fabio Massimo 107 – Aprons on at 6:00 p.m.

Tickets are available for purchase on Eventbrite ~ €75 per person.

Our event sponsors are:
Porta del Vento (sicilian wine from Camporeale)
www.portadelvento.it | @porta_del_vento_winery

Paesano Authentic (pomegranate amaro, artichoke amaro)
www.paesanoauthentic.com | @paesano.authentic

Azienda Agricola Biologica Di Giovanna (organic extra virgin olive oil)
www.di-giovanna.com | @digiovannawine

Molini del Ponte (chickpea & russello flour, busiate pasta)
www.molinidelponte.com | @molini_del_ponte_drago

Our event partners are:
ProLoco Trastevere
Etnella

I hope to see you there!

Spend a week with me

A few weeks ago I announced that Casa Mia, the food tour company I co-founded in 2015, has crafted week-long food and culture tours.

Availability is limited to the first 15 guests to confirm booking. Spots are selling out fast, so if you want an exclusive opportunity to experience the food, wine and beauty of Rome with me, you should seriously start thinking about reserving your spaces.

In partnership with Pranzo Tours––a tour operator with extensive experience in Italy travel planning––we're offering customized 7-day Rome tours whose focus is the food, wine and culture of the Eternal City.

During our week-long tours, you could have the unique opportunity to explore the Eternal City from a food and wine perspective in the company of trusted locals (including myself), spending a week dotted by delicious food, wine and cooking activities.

All planned out for you. All you have to do is sit back, sip and enjoy.

Days will be full of different activities, with plenty of tasting, drinking, cooking, learning Italian, eating and laughing. There will also be downtime to head off on your own to explore the city.

Yes, there will be gelato.

Every detail has been carefully planned to give travelers the most authentic and delicious experience possible. First, is the timing. Our week-long culinary tours are scheduled in early May and late September, when Rome is less crowded, figs and artichokes are in season, and airfare is affordable.

Accommodations have been secured at a historic 4-star hotel in the center of Rome. The price for the week-long food and culture tour includes all accommodations, ground transportation, meals and ingredients for cooking classes, wines during meals, tours, and tastings, and city taxes.

No hidden costs. Only enjoyment. And lots of food.

Tour Highlights

• Welcome dinner at Rome's best pizzeria
• Farmer's market tour & cooking class with lunch
• Winery visit & wine tasting day trip
• Full-day cheese pilgrimage
• Guided olive oil tasting
• Breakfast at Rome's best pastry shop
• Exploring the local cocktail and amaro scene
• Testaccio market tour
• Cacio e pepe, amatriciana & carbonara extravaganza
• Lots of espresso, wine, gelato and more...

May is right around the corner, so reserve your spots before they sell out!

To learn details and pricing for our customized seven-day culinary adventures––which include guided excursions, authentic cooking classes, shared intimate dinners and opportunities for individual exploration––CLICK HERE.
I look forward to meeting you in Rome.

Bespoke food & culture itinearies in Italy

Want to experience the culture, art and cuisine of Italy on a customized itinerary that my business partners and I can design for you?

Casa Mia Tours can plan a full multi-day itinerary that includes tours, cooking classes, boat excursions, wine tastings, plus concierge services like hotel and restaurant reservations, and any other element you may need, so you don't have to worry. Leave all the legwork to us. 

Every experience we include in our itineraries has been personally selected to provide an authentic and immersive experience. 

Sample tour highlights

• Welcome dinner at a local restaurant, representative of the area's cuisine
• Farmer's market tour & cooking class with lunch
• Winery visit & wine tasting day trip
• Cheese pilgrimage with lunch
• Art, history and culture immersion
• Guided olive oil tasting
• Exploring the local cocktail, aperitivo and amaro scene
• Boat excursion around the islands
• Hiking, biking or truffle hunting
• Lots of espresso, wine, gelato and more...

Schedules always includes opportunities for quiet enjoyment and individual exploration.

We pride in offering only true and authentic experiences to our guests. Our commitment to responsible travel and food education is of paramount importance to us. The meaningful and responsible travel practices we encourage support local artisans, farmers, and small businesses, nurturing the local economy and preserving cultural traditions.

In order to suggest ideas and solutions for you based on your travel style, budget and desired experiences, we recommend setting up a clarity session via Zoom to get to know each other and understand your needs and expectations. Email us to start planning your next trip to Italy!

My 10 favorite cheese shops in Rome

"There is a reciprocal relationship between cheese and its customer: every cheese waits for its client, poses in a way to attract it, with attitude and haughty grain, or on the contrary dissolving into surrendering abandon" 

In his novel Palomar, Italo Calvino describes the subtle relationship (and slight exhilaration) of finding oneself in front of an overflowing cheese counter in a Parisian cheese shop.

That same embarrassment of riches is how I feel when, disoriented, I make my way to the front of the shop and peer in the overflowing cheese display. Not only am I tugged in several directions––torn between a soft-ripened bloomy rind robiola and a voluptuous and nutty Alpine toma––I am also reminded with every bite, that cheese is the result of dedication, hard work, passion and love.

Behind each cheese there are in fact OGM-free cereals, rolling pastures, fragrant meadows, green grass and transhumance, and also sets of sturdy (and often heat-chapped) hands, obstinance and secrets handed down over the centuries, superstition, patience, tradition, prayer and for many, livelihood.

Rome has its fair share of cheese shops. The ones listed below are some of the usual places where I normally am found, lost in contemplation, tasting slices carved from old classics, or discovering new incredible products.

I like to linger and chat with the cheesemonger, ask about where the cheese was made, who the people behind each wheel are, what wine pairs well with the cheese, what bread pairs well with the cheese... The conversation often goes on for hours. I know you understand.

Here are my 10 favorite cheese shops in Rome.

ProLoco DOL
In the Centocelle suburb, Vincenzo Mancino and his "family" of loyal Lazio food purveyors operate in the number one location for regional culinary specialties. Cheese occupies large portion of the offer, with stars like rare Caciofiore whose curds are made with soaked thistle, soft Cacio Magno, or the herb-rubbed Conciato produced by the female inmates of the Rebibbia prison. There's also a wide selection of cave-aged pecorinos, caciocavallo and buffalo cheese produced in the nearby Pontina marshland. Cured meats and cheeses can be enjoyed seated along with house pizza in teglia and a handful of succulent entrees. Reservations recommended. especially on the weekend.

La Tradizione
Owned by Roberto and Stefano and a passionate team of cheese lovers, the shop boasts one of Rome's widest cheese selections. The display case (and the caveau downstairs) conceal a vast assortment of cured meats and more than 400 kinds of cheese from Italy and abroad. Barrel-matured and cave-aged Caciocavallo, ricotta Seirass, plus Cheddar and Stilton. There's a special display reserved for only for blues, gorgonzolas and roqueforts. Shelves of goat milk cheeses, caciocavallo, taleggio, Sicilian ragusano, and the unique Conciato Romano of the Le Campestre farm that's aged with herbs, spices and wine in special terracotta anforae. All the extravagant shopping here is paper-wrapped with a ribbon and handed over with a smile.

Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi
Beppe Giovale comes from a family of cheesemakers who produce, age and cure cheeses made with the milk of their own goats, cows and sheep. The spacious shop located in the Jewish Quarter sells mostly Piemonte and French raw milk regional cheeses sourced exclusively from free-range, pasteur-raised cattle farms. The cheeses can be both purchased or enjoyed at one of the tables in the back, along with a glass of wine, whole-grain breads, terrines, extra virgin olive oil, edible flowers, nuts, pomegranate berries and fruit jellies. Reservations recommended at peak aperitivo time (6-8pm).

La Formaggeria di Francesco Loreti
At stall number 26 of Mercato Latino in Piazza Epiro, Francesco and Donatella carve wedges out of toothsome wheels, handing them with a smile to awe-struck customers. Conversation is followed by a glass of wine and more cheese. This is totally normal here, transactions come later. The stall sells only artisanal products sourced at small creameries and family-run dairy farms, and not usually found at farmer's markets. The goal is removing from our daily food shopping cart items commonly available in big chain grocery stores, providing instead valid, high quality alternatives, sold at totally democratic prices. The market is open Mon-Sat, 6:30am-3:00pm.

Salumeria Roscioli
Bread and cheese go hand in hand. It's no surprise then that Rome's leading baker should naturally expand its offer to include bread-loving foods like prime cured meats and stellar cheese. The manic selection of quality products is in the hands of brothers Alessandro and Pierluigi Roscioli. Gracing displays are soft discs of robiola, bloomed and washed rind cheeses, moldy blues like rare White Stilton Gold, made in only 6 creameries and containing actual flecks of gold. There's more: think rare Bitto, elastic pecorinos, or Caciocavallo Podolico made in Puglia between May and June with the milk of an endangered cow breed. Reservations mandatory.

Antica Caciara Trasteverina
The smile on Signor Roberto and his wife Anna's face lights up with every customer that walks in the door of this historical Trastevere cheese shop. This is where Romans come for authentic Pecorino Romano DOP (made by Fulvi with Lazio milk) and sheep ricotta sourced at sustainable creameries. Other delights include oven-baked ricotta, formaggio di fossa (cheese matured in sealed 6-ft deep tufa stone pits), toma del Piemonte, variably aged regional cheeses, plus Norcia cured meats like guanciale, corallina, coglioni di mulo and other goofy-named local salumi.

Salsamenteria
Roberto Mangione runs a small deli (salsamenteria, in old Italian) and you'd be content just purchasing silken slices of prosciutto San Daniele or a precious sliver of gooey Gorgonzola, but you'd be missing out on Rome's best kept secret. After the sun goes down, Roberto pours the bubbly and serves fine cheeses and top cured meats with impromptu seating on foldable chairs and tables opposite the display cases. I come for the refined culinary delights like beer-flavored Ottavio cheese produced at Fattorie Fiandino, or Alpine Beaufort. All paired with Roberto's elegant selection of Champagne (200+ labels), Italian and French wines, craft beers and liqueurs. Given venue size, call ahead to let Roberto know you'll be stopping by.

Va Sano
After moving to Rome from their native Paris, David and Laurène travel back to France regularly to source their high quality French products. Think creamy Camembert Fermier, or delightful Comté aged 24 or 36 months, wines from Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Alsace, Languedoc and the Southwestern wine regions, plus spectacular Champagnes. In addition to the gorgeous cheese and wine selection, accoutrements include foie gras and macarons, croissants, pain au chocolat, pain d'épice and gourmet jams. Wine and cheese tastings are held weekly.

Casa dei Latticini
Family-run since 1898 – not a typo – Antonio Micocci's treasure trove of all things moldy, funky and crumbly continues the family tradition: providing the elegant Sallustiano neighborhood residents with top-notch cheese and dairy. Shelves are chock-full with 500 different types of Italian cheese and some French highlights. The selection of toma piemontese wheels is staggering, and the delicious mozzarella di bufala is delivered twice a day from Paestum (Barlotti, Vannulo, etc). The staff always has a small selection of tastings out on the counter for walk-in clients and devoted aficionados.

Bottega Liberati
Take the orange A metro line and get off at Giulio Agricola. The 1960s historically acclaimed Liberati butcher shop is now in the hands of Roberto. Sold in addition prime Maremmana, Piemontese, Chianina, Charolais and Bue Grasso di Carrù beef cuts are select herbs, bottled sauces, jarred legumes and bronze-extruded pastas. Romans also flock here for Liberati's phenomenal cheese selection. Prime quality products hail from high altitude pastures and grass fed cattle. I can't last too long without goat's milk robiola Le Ramate, Cau & Spada cheeses, and his sublime burrata. Bottega Liberati is furthermore the only place south of the Alps where I can find the delightful Eggemoa cheeses.

Top 10 favorite Rome restaurants I can be spotted at

I often get asked what my favorite restaurant in Rome is, or which are in my top 3. This is very difficult to answer, obviously. Pizza, fine dining, informal trattoria-style… there are so many types of restaurants, prices and formats to choose from. I have a number of favorites for each category.

But don't be fooled into thinking that my list of usual Rome hangouts is vast and varied. To the contrary. I rely on only a handful of trusted venues. Despite the excitement surrounding new openings and the food scene in my city, I have to also take into account wallet and––well, life. Reality is not like it often appears on Instagram.

I'm an entrepreneur, journalist and television host, but the laundry's not going to hang itself. Food shopping, cleaning the house, making exciting and nutritious meals for a rugby-playing, hormone-busting boy and working three full-time jobs take time out of my restaurant reporting. Driving to and from school/work/errands takes big chunks of time out of my potential venue-scouting. Not to mention trying to find a parking spot. All this is quadrupled when it rains in Rome, or when workers go on a transportation strike. Raising a teenager as a single parent requires furthermore dedicating time and attention to sometimes small yet important things. There are times when my son needs help with homework. Sometimes he just wants to cuddle (God bless him for still having moments like that!). There are other times when he needs me to just listen.

There are days when I fall asleep in my clothes on the sofa at 8 pm. I have to put alerts in my phone to remind myself to drink water, take a bathroom break, go out for a walk. Trying to squeeze in press events at new restaurants and staying out after 11 pm on a school night can be overwhelming if not downright impossible. And what if the place turns out to be disappointing? All that precious time I could have spent with family gets wasted on bad finger food and watered down Spritz.

And that's why I'm a creature of habit. That's why when I actually do carve out a night to dine out with girlfriends, or when my son and I manage to peel ourselves off the floor on Fridays, we tend to not stray from the well-known, from the comforting welcome we're reserved at those places where we’re considered regulars.

These are my tried and true places, the ones where I feel welcome. Where it's OK to occasionally drop in without a reservation, or where I am perfectly comfortable eating at a table for one.

What follows is a list of the 10 restaurants in Rome, divided by category, where I can be most often be found at, enjoying favorite seasonal dishes, or trying out new menu suggestions, alone or in the company of someone special.

Bistro-style dining

Salumeria Roscioli
I love sitting at either the bar counter or the small tables set up against the cheese counter, with prosciutto legs jutting over my head. This is a place where I feel at home. I always order the same thing: burrata with semi-dried tomatoes, a plate of pata negra Joselito 5 Jotas, and chef Nabil Hadj Hassen's stellar carbonara. I wipe out the entire bread basket (baked at the forno around the corner) and I finish off with un caffè at the owner's coffee bar next door.

Proloco DOL
This Centocelle deli-meets-restaurant is the brainchild of Vincenzo Mancino, an epicure who has made it his mission to scout out the region’s best ingredients. This means that the front of the shop sells prime quality cured meats, cheeses, bottled sauces and canned goods, wine, craft beer, bread, pickles and jams, organic eggs and flour: all from Lazio. The the dining room adjacent to the shop is a superb restaurant whose menu changes with the seasons. I always order a plate of pasta (the amatriciana is out of this world, as are the ravioli, sourced at Pastificio Secondi) but meals here always open with a ridiculous charcuterie board, considering how Vincenzo knows what I like, and indulges me (be sure to ask for the homemade mortadella). In the evening I always have one of Simoneìs pizza in teglia, that is baked in tin pans and served sliced.

Fine dining

Marzapane
Young Spanish chef Alba Esteve Ruiz has fully immersed herself in the flavors of Rome. Her kitchen offers both steadfast Rome tradition in beautifully presented surprises, and creative Iberian digressions. Click here to read about a recent meal I had at Marzapane.

Metamorfosi
Rome hosts a variety of acclaimed Michelin Star restaurants. When I set budget aside in favor of a unique luxury experience, I head over to Metamorfosi. Colombian chef Roy Caceres presents an eclectic style that’s––like the name implies––in constant evolution, so the creative offer is never the same. I love to let the staff choose what I’ll be eating that day, with the exception of a handful of evergreen dishes, like the glazed eel and the mushroom and hazelnut risotto “wrapped” in a thin edible veil.

Pizza and street food

Trapizzino
I could eat Trapizzino's triangular pizza pockets filled with cucina romana every day of the week. In particular, the chicken cacciatore is my absolute favorite. Just writing about it makes me salivate. The supplì rice balls are also amazing. Remember when a decade ago Rome's best loved street food franchise offered two Trapizzino sizes? Now you can find Trapizzino in New York's Lower East Side.

Berberé
Natural "mother" starter, whole-grain stone-milled crusts, organic and strictly seasonal ingredients in the toppings, pies served sliced: a pizza format that actually revolutionized the classic pizzeria concept in many ways. Starterd in Bologna by two Calabrians, the franchise now has 8 outlets in Italy and 2 in London. I'll take their "margherita" topped with mozzarella di bufala from Caserta any day, but my heart belongs to their pie topped with 'nduja from Spilinga (spicy spreadable sausage), fiordilatte and tomato.

Wine bars with food

Beppe e i Suoi Formaggi
I like the way fourth generation cheese maker Beppe Giovale thinks: essentially, cheese needs wine and wine needs cheese. That’s why this place can’t be defined as simply a "wine bar" or a "cheese shop." It's a lot of both things, offering sensational raw milk cheeses, many of which are made by Beppe; phenomenal butter, great Piemonte products, including foie gras, hazelnuts, white truffles (in season now), cured meats, heritage breads, as well as a fine selection of wine.

Enoteca Bulzoni
My family started purchasing wine and spirits from this family wine merchant in the Sixties. I’ve watched brothers Alessandro and Riccardo raise their grandfather Emidio's legacy to what Bulzoni is today: no longer just a very well-stocked neighborhood wine shop, but a superior quality beverage resource as well as a fine dining venue. I love to walk here after work for hearty aperitivo, which––given the number of small plates served along with my glass(es) of wine––becomes early dinner by Rome standards. My go-to pintxos include crostini with smoked burrata and blistered tomatoes, and Fiocco della Tuscia cheese melted over seasonal vegetables drizzled with cooked wine must. Great wine list, notable natural labels and a fine Bulzoni brand too.

Out of town

Sora Maria e Arcangelo
I don't like the word favorite, but this is pretty much the place I could eat at every day of my life, if I could. I discovered this delightful restaurant in Olevano Romano in 2011 and have been coming here regularly since. I even filmed a Lazio episode ending of my show here. We were so relaxed and at ease after the meal we ate that we actually drank all the wine and in the episode ending you can see us all laughing, tipsy and happy. Giovanni Milana is one of the kindest, most passionate cooks I know. Aided by his mother in the kitchen, Giovanni interprets local ingredients and recipes with respect and admiration. Every time I come for lunch, I always order at least one portion of the giant signature cannelloni.

Osteria Iotto
The masterminds behind this sensational Campagnano restaurant open since 2005 are Marco Pasquali and his wine Ines Cappelli. Their own farm supplies the kitchen with fresh, seasonal ingredients, that go into simple, wholesome and delicious dishes. Always on the menu, in addition to seasonal rotations, is an excellent gricia (pasta with cured pork jowl, pecorino and pepper), lamb with roast potatoes, meatballs with a mix of veal and pork, as well as very good braised oxtail. I always have the giant fritto platter, which features potato croquettes, apple and pear fritters, potato and mortadella balls, cubed and breaded mozzarella, and the best onion rings on the planet.

If you see me in any of these restaurants, do come say hello!

Top 10 favorite Venice restaurants I can be spotted at

Where To Eat In Trastevere – updated for 2018

I love the Trastevere neighborhood. Vibrant, colorful, yet lazy and ironic. So totally Roman in every aspect.

Wedged between the River Tiber, Vatican State, and the Janiculum Hill, Trastevere is a village within a city. The Trastevere village is then divided itself into two distinct worlds, cut in half by the Viale Trastevere thoroughfare: on the Santa Maria in Trastevere side, tourists and international students mingle in and out of raucous pubs and tavernas; on the southern side of Viale Trastevere is instead a quieter, more authentic 'old Rome' atmosphere that permeates the cobbled alleys.

Four years ago I created a list of my favorite restaurants in Trastevere. It's time to update it, adding new places that have opened, and taking out others that no longer excite me.

Trastevere, in fact, offers a lot of places to eat... not many of which are really any good. The density of touristy eateries in the neighborhood has sadly increased over the years. So it's important for me, as a fan of the Rione XIII, to prove that we shouldn't simplify the old Roman "left bank" to strung laundry and tourist traps.

Here is my shortlist of favorite places to eat in Trastevere.

Photos © thedishstance.com

Da Enzo
Cucina romana classics in this tiny osteria include a very well assembled carbonara and sublime cacio e pepe. The menu is seasonal and depends on whatever is fresh and available at the market on the day, so expect entrées to include coda alla vaccinara (stewed oxtail) or baccalà (cod) baked with a potato crust and blistered cherry tomatoes. Leave room for dessert, especially if the mascarpone mousse topped with wild strawberries is available that day. This hole-in-the wall trattoria has a line out the door every night, and does not take reservations after 7:30pm.

Photo © anamericaninrome.com

Osteria Der Belli
Outdoor seating in this Sardinian restaurant overlooks a charming piazza in Trastevere. The menu is seafood-based, so you can go crazy ordering spaghetti with cherry tomatoes, fresh anchovies and pecorino; various crudo and tartare platters; grilled scampi and the catch of the day baked in a salt crust, or any way Leo suggests. Cucina romana classics are also available.

Tavernaccia Da Bruno
I squeezed this in my Trastevere list, but this family-run restaurant is actually closer to Testaccio. In addition to traditional Roman and Lazio cuisine, expert pizza makers bake pies and focaccia in the large wood-fired oven. The five decades of family ownership and consistently delicious pastas, delectable mains, and appealing desserts make this one of those places that indemnify Trastevere's bad dining reputation.

Pianoalto
Again at the southernmost tip of Trastevere, not far for the Trastevere train station is Pianoalto, a game on words brought to us by the same brilliant female foursome behind Pianostrada. The rooftop location is set across two floors including the landscaped terrace boasting a stylish bar counter and offering views across Rome's ex-slaughterhouse, the Aventine hill and Monte Testaccio. The menu is seasonal, in summer think ravioli filled with burrata, candied tomatoes, crispy eggplant, basil and ricotta salata; or spaghetti with grilled mussels, zucchini flowers, pecorino di Falisco and candied lemon.

STREET FOOD & PIZZA

Photo © kittyskitchen.it

Seu Pizza Illuminati
Located on the edge of Trastevere near Ostiense is a stellar new pizzeria that has definitively spolied us Romans: after tasting Pier Daniele Seu's pies we no longer settle for average. Highlights of the rich menu include the pizza Margherita Gialla (topped with yellow vine-ripened tomatoes, mint and smoked provola cheese), the Origini pizza with fior di latte, porchetta, myrtle liqueur reduction and rosemary, and the Indiviata pie topped with fior di latte, Belgian endive, mortadella, pistachio-flavored whipped ricotta and nutmeg.

La Casa del Supplì - Sisini
This minuscule family run take-away place is buzzing with activity all day long and serves Rome's best supplì (fried rice balls). There's also a good choice of other fritti, like zucchini blossoms, battered cod fillets and potato corquettes, as well as pizza al taglio (slabs of thin-crust pizza baked in large pans, squares of which are sold by weight). Lazy cooks can purchase their lasagna, rotisserie chicken and french fries to go.

Trapizzino
Rome's street food craze, the famed triangular pizza corners, have landed in Trastevere, and this too has contributed to raising the neighborhood's bar of quality. Fillings of the hot pocket of your dreams are the franchise's fame, and include classic Roman gastronomy ranging from chicken cacciatore, tongue with salsa verde, braised oxtail, meatballs drenched in tomato sauce, zighinì (spicy slow cooked Eritrean meat dish), picchiapò beef stew, pork belly Roman style and much more. Good beers and bubbly.

La Boccaccia
This tiny––when I say tiny, think 'broom closet' tiny––pizza al taglio joint serves some of the best arrabbiata pizza topping I've had to date. Their pork sausage and broccoli is equally amazing, as is their pumpkin one. If there's no room to sit, have your pizza wrapped, walk to Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere and eat your squares of happiness sitting on the steps of the fountain.

Photo © apronandsneakers.com

Il Maritozzo Rosso
If you thought maritozzo could only be a decadent breakfast bun filled with whipped cream, you'll have to think again. In the location that once housed the first Pianostrada, savory buns are filled with all manner of cucina romana classics: crispy guanciale and pecorino; cacio e pepe, or stracciatella (the filling in burrata), anchovies and seared spinach. These are only a few of the 30 different fillings available on rotation. There's obviously sweet maritozzi too, so save room for dessert.

COFFEE, PASTRIES & GELATO

Photo © kukkulalta.com

Bar San Callisto
This charming dated neighborhood bar is a Trastevere must. Sit outside at the rickety tables, drink Peroni beer from the bottle, watch the old men play cards at impromptu sidewalk tables and receive automatic Trastevere citizenship. Just to give you a clue as to the usual clientele, the bar's license was recently suspended for three days, on accounts of disturbing the peace (a late-nigh jam session). The homemade gelato is limited to a few simple flavors, served with freshly whipped cream. Don't miss the house specialties, sambuca con la mosca (anise liqueur with a toasted coffee bean in it) and sgroppino: lemon sorbet mixed with (non-equal parts) chilled vodka and served with a spoon and a straw.

Otaleg!
When Marco Radicioni opened his second gelateria in Trastevere the loud roar of exultation was heard as far as Malta. Favorite flavors of the moment (they change on quick rotation) are white chocolate-licorice-mint, Madagascar vanilla-bourbon with ginger, and all the phenomenal seasonal fruit scoops.

Fatamorgana
Regarded as the the gelato maker that bought gourmet gelato to Rome, Maria Agnese Spagnuolo churns mainstream classic as well as adventurous flavour combos like pear & Gorgonzola; tobacco flavored chocolate; black srice and rose petals, and whatever else is in season. All flavors are organic and gluten free. My favorites are bacio del principe (hazelnut praline and toasted hazelnuts), pistachio di Bronte, and cinnamon-apple. As far as summer fruits, I always go with peach, watermelon and cantaloupe.

Photo © Andrea Di Lorenzo for italyfoodandwinetours.com

Biscottificio Innocenti
Stefania and her family make hundreds of types of biscotti in a 1960s vintage oven that's 14 meters long and works with a conveyor belt. When the German company that sold it to Stefania's parents came to install the "beast" in the cookie shop, the neighbors told the couple that they were crazy investing their life savings in that horrid thing. The oven is still there, producing sweet morsels of joy. Do yourself a favor and buy a bag of brutti ma buoni ("ugly but good" hazelnut macaroons), shortbread hearts half dipped in chocolate and the wafer-thin "stracci". The coffee vending machine makes surprisingly good espresso. Sip and nibble on the bench, while you listen to Stefania's perfect trasteverino dialect as she tells you stories of her fascinating life in the Rione.

Le Levain
This tiny French-inspired bakery-boulangerie uses sourdough natural starter yeast in almost all of their recipes. That alone should be a guarantee of quality. Le Levain is popular for homemade pastries, breakfast buns, mini-cakes and bread. Savory preparations include quiches filled with anything from pancetta and cheese, to broccoli and potato. I come for breakfast and binge on their delightful buttery croissants and pain au chocolat (which are made with actual French butter), macarons, eclairs, and original tartes. Beware, though: once you do too, you'll never settle for a margarine-soaked cornetto ever again.

What's your favorite place to eat in Trastevere?