The Best Street Food Spots in Rome

For a quick bite on your way to the Colosseum, try Pizza & Mortazza. Mortazza – Roman slang for mortadella, the large meaty salami found in many Italian delis – is this food truck’s signature ingredient. Close your eyes and imagine Ancient Rome, with crowds flocking to the games, enjoying snacks and warm breads. Look for this restaurant’s salmon-colored ape truck around Rome’s center for fresh pizza and deli selections too.

Trapizzino has taken the street food of Rome to another level by deconstructing Italy’s most conventional food: pizza. By baking fresh bread pockets and stuffing them with ingredients no Italian can resist, Trapizzino has become an innovator in the new Italian food movement. Try a trapizzino filled with tomato ragu or braised chicken for a hearty snack.

Filettaro’s main appeal is its filetto di baccala. This dish of battered and deep fried cod keeps locals coming back for more of this simple yet beautifully prepared fish. There are a few other things on the menu such as acciughe con burro (anchovies with butter). Food from here is best enjoyed on the stairs of the nearby Santa Barbara Church.

Tigelle are a cross between an English-muffin and a pancake, and can be split open and stuffed with tasty fillings. Mozao has quickly made a name for itself serving sweet and savory tigelle and fried gnocchi. The tigelle are crisp on the outside and soft and warm within. Try the gioiosa; featuring spuma di Mortadella all Bolognese, riccioli di limn and radicchio rosso.

You can find some of the best pizza in Rome just northwest of the Vatican. Pizzarium’s organic stoneground flour makes the finest slow-leavened dough around. As one of the best pizza-by-the-slice places you’ll find, stop here after a visit to the Piazza San Pietro or Basilica di San Pietro. The pizza rossa, pizza bianca, and potato pizza are some of the most popular choices.

Bread is no small matter in Rome, and luckily it is also the cheapest, most filling snack for any tourist on the run. Opened in 2012 by the founder of Pizzarium, Gabriele Bonci, Panificio Bonci kneads some of the finest breads and pastries in Rome. Their sweet and flaky pizzette come highly recommended, but if you stop for breakfast make sure to start your day with a cornetto and an espresso.

Order a glass of wine and sink your teeth into one of Supplizio’s arrancini (fried rice balls), offered as either the rosso classico or the bionco della tradizione. Served in egg cartons for takeout orders.

The Roman cousin to arrancini is a similar dish called supplì, a fried rice ball with tomato sauce, mincemeat, and mozzarella, and La Casa del Supplì makes some of the best in the city. So after a long day sightseeing, come to this restaurant for the classic supplì cacio e pepe for a true taste of modern Roman street food.

Inspired by other street food experiences from time spent abroad, the creators of Ciao Checca sought to invigorate their love for classic pasta dishes with a contemporary, regional twist. If you’re close to the Pantheon, be sure to stop at Ciao Checca for the Roman classic pasta alla checca.

Did you know – Culture Trip now does bookable, small-group trips? Pick from authentic, immersive Epic Trips, compact and action-packed Mini Trips and sparkling, expansive Sailing Trips.