In spite of its vast and ever-growing pizza culture, Rome’s home-grown pizza styles remain relatively unknown beyond its borders. The consolation is that you have to visit Rome to fully enjoy them—not the worst thing in the world—and you’ll be treated to Italy’s most varied and dynamic pizza culture.
When getting acquainted with Rome’s best pizzerias, start with the absolute classics. For starters, there is pizza alla pala, which is found in most bakeries and is sold by the slice from long slabs nearly as deep as the bread oven they are baked in. Pizza in teglia, another pizza-by-the-slice style made by quintessential slice joints, is baked in a sheet pan and served to standing customers. Both pizza alla pala and pizza in teglia are sold by weight and you’re in control of the size of each piece, which is typically served on a tray or folded over and wrapped in paper for easy consumption on the street. They also share common toppings: tomato and mozzarella, squash blossoms with salted anchovies and mozzarella, and potato with or without cheese.
Meanwhile, Rome’s thin-crusted pizza tonda is a round, personal-sized pie baked in a wood-fired oven. It has barely any rim and a crispy and chewy texture, characteristics that set it apart from the softer, thick-rimmed Neapolitan style, which you’ll also find in Rome. Recently, another style from Naples, pizza fritta (fried pizza), has arrived on Rome’s food scene, and it is perfectly at home in a city that loves fried things—indeed fried antipasti have always been Romans’ go-to way to start any pizza meal.
The last decade or so has also seen some major pizza innovation both within and beyond these styles, as pizza makers break out from strict traditions to imbue their creations with original flairs unique to their pizzerias. Among the creative new formats are street food concepts like the trapizzino pizza pocket and whole pies that merge the texture of Roman and Neapolitan styles, while transforming the base into a palate for more gourmet toppings than what has traditionally been used.
Here’s where to find each of these Rome-based styles in their best versions.
Pizza in Teglia
Pizzarium
Via della Meloria 43 (Cipro)
What started as a rather obscure 20-square-meter, hole-in-the-wall slice joint nearly 20 years ago has turned into the epicenter of a Roman pizza revolution. Now measuring a whopping 30 square meters, Pizzarium’s small size does little to dampen its impact. Pizzarium was founded in 2003 by Gabriele Bonci, a trained chef who dreamed of—and ultimately succeeded—in transforming Roman baking culture, bringing techniques like high-hydration dough, cold fermentation, and meticulous ingredient sourcing to a city that had merely delicious pizza by the slice before. Now, it’s spectacular, and Bonci’s stature as an innovator has inspired a generation of young bakers to train with him and ultimately open their own pizza businesses (like Ruver Teglia Frazionata, AmaRAnto, and A Rota below), all devoted to spreading the good-dough gospel far and wide. As ground zero for this revolution, Pizzarium will offer you the equal-parts tender and chewy crust adorned with intensely flavored produce, cheeses, and cured meats. Toppings change regularly, and the brisk counter business means the slice you had your heart set on might vanish before your number is called. Look for potato and mozzarella, soft onions, tomato and oregano, plus anything with njuja. And always begin with one of Pizzarium’s particularly good fried starters, like mozzarella with Calabrian nduja or fried spaghetti carbonara.
Panificio Bonci
Via Trionfale 36 (Trionfale)
A ten-minute walk from Pizzarium, Gabriele Bonci’s eponymous bakery (opened in 2012) serves pizzas in various forms besides the teglia (sheet pan) style that Pizzarium is known for, alongside spectacular breads and pastries. Their teglia style is joined by pizzette (small, almost bite-size pizzas) made either from puff pastry or oil-enriched pizza dough (a perfect savory aperitivo snack) . But the real standouts are the sandwiches (called pizze, not panini!) filled with glorious mortadella or house-made porchetta between fragrant slices of spongy pizza bianca, i.e. plain pizza dough baked into bread form for sandwiches.
AmaRAnto
Via Adige, 19 (Salaria)
Bonci alumni Rossella Picozza and Andrei George opened AmaRAnto (the “R” and A” are a nod to their first names), opened this pizza- by- the- slice shop at the edge of the swanky Coppedè district in northeastern Rome in late 2020 after years learning the ropes with the master Bonci. The counter displays an array of pizzas with unfussy toppings balanced with care: potato and mozzarella, mortadella, and smoked provolone and cherry tomatoes. There are plenty of fritti, too, like supplì (rice croquettes) and croquettes of simmered beef, both classic Roman snacks. There is also a small selection of non-pizza items, like tender braised chicken with potatoes and rice-stuffed tomatoes filled with rice, then roasted until they burst.
Lievito Pizza, Pane
Viale Europa, 339 (EUR)
On a shady street in the EUR neighborhood, Mussolini’s ambitious urban district crafted from gleaming local white limestone, Lievito Pizza, Pane is a pizzeria al taglio serving the city’s signature sheet-pan pizza. Owner Francesco Arnesano has earned his place among Rome’s top bakers in just two short years for his mastery of an ethereal dough base. The toppings change regularly to reflect Rome’s seasonal abundance, but you can expect to find delicious combinations like smoked provolone with fresh porcini mushrooms and potatoes, 36-month aged Prosciutto di Parma with cantaloupe, and stracciatella with cured pork shoulder. Check the chalkboard for the daily fritti, which often include items inspired by Roman pasta dishes—like spaghetti carbonara fritters and cacio e pepe-flavored potato croquettes. There’s also an impressive selection of sourdough loaves made with heirloom wheats.
For more pizza in teglia, you can also check out relative newcomers Ruver Teglia Frazionata in Aventino and Pantera in Garbatella.
Pizza alla Pala
Antico Forno Roscioli
Via dei Chiavari 34 (Centro Storico)
The name Antico Forno Roscioli (“the ancient bakery of the Roscioli family”) implies deep roots in Rome but, in fact, it has only been in the Italian capital for two generations–it opened in the early 1970s. Yet their bakery is so thoroughly Roman that it indeed feels even more historic, selling all the local specialties: crusty breads with a soft crumb, ricotta cakes and Roman biscotti, and especially pizza. Antico Forno Roscioli’s “pizza alla pala” is baked in deep bread ovens, hence its length of around 4 feet (1.2 meters) or more. The staff lops off pieces with a massive knife according to the size you desire. The pizzas are simplest in the morning, when pizza bianca (a spongy flatbread seasoned with salt and extra-virgin olive oil) and pizza rossa (a thin, crispy pizza baked with a thin slick of bright and tangy tomato sauce) appear at the counter. They are joined at lunchtime by more substantial toppings, like roasted tomatoes and burrata or potato and mozzarella, for a hungry crowd of tourists and local workers on a budget.
Forno Campo de Fiori
Campo de’ Fiori 22 (Centro Storico)
Like its nearby competitor Antico Forno Roscioli, Forno Campo de’ Fiori is a classic bread bakery selling loaves, cookies, and jam tarts, though their pizza alla pala is the best reason to go. The staff slices the pizza from slabs before weighing it and wrapping it up in brown paper for you to take away. There are few joys in Rome as pure as eating a slice of the Forno’s fiori di zucca pizza (a white one, with zucchini flowers) on the cobblestones outside the shop while peering through the adjacent window, through which you can see jiggly lumps of dough being coaxed into five-foot long pizzas by Osvaldo, a 40-year veteran of the bakery. If you show up mid-afternoon when the bakery closes temporarily, pop into Forno Campo de’ Fiori’s annex across the alley for pizza con la mortazza (a mortadella sandwich made with their intensely and perfectly salted pizza bianca).
Casa Manco
Mercato di Testaccio (Testaccio)
Testaccio has one of the few markets in Rome where you can graze on prepared food (most of the others focus on selling ingredients rather than meals). Husband-and-wife team Paola Manco and Andrea Salabè opened Casa Manco in the Mercato di Testaccio in 2017, and it quickly became one of the most appealing spots in a growing sea of dining options, both within the market and in the neighborhood. The couple sells pizza alla pala, naturally fermenting their dough and proofing it for four days before stretching it into oblong discs. The substantial toppings are suited for the structurally sound base: zucchini flowers, salted anchovies, and stracciatella; guanciale, pecorino Romano, and black pepper; potato and mozzarella. The simplest offering, pizza dough rolled in sesame seeds and then baked, has an ethereal texture and toasted flavor that is incredibly complex, in spite of its seeming simplicity.
Thin-Crusted Round Personal Pies
A Rota
Via di Tor Pignattara, 190 (Tor Pignattara)
Sami El Sabawy, another Bonci alum, has departed from his teacher’s style to serve pizza tonda rather than pizza by the slice. At his pizzeria in Tor Pignattara on the eastern side of the city, El Sabawy rolls dough balls into thin, 13-inch (33-centimeter) disks, tops them nearly to the edge, then bakes them in a wood-fired oven until they are crisp. There is a balance of classic and creative toppings on the menu, from the traditional Margherita (with mozzarella and tomato), capricciosa (mushroom, artichoke, egg, and prosciutto on a mozzarella-and-tomato base), and fiori di zucca (squash blossoms, salted anchovy, and mozzarella) to a more modern pizza with stracciatella, salted anchovies, and confit tomatoes seasoned with dehydrated olives and lemon zest.
L’Elementare
Via Benedetta 23 (Trastevere)
Mirko Rizzo has proven himself to be a Renaissance man of sorts in the pizza department. He first made his name at his excellent pizza in teglia shop, Pommidoro in Centocelle (now closed), and more recently has waded into pizza tonda territory at his newest venture in Trastevere, L’Elementare. Rizzo’s style has always leaned heavily decadent, as demonstrated by pizza toppings like Porco Blu (chicory, capocollo, and blue cheese cream), but especially by his fried starters like cream-drenched, deep-fried tortellini and fried bricks of lasagna, both inspired by the Emilia-Romagna region. Wash it all down with a palate-cleansing beer from the formidable list. There are several locations, including one across the river from Testaccio’s former slaughterhouse.
Ai Marmi
Viale di Trastevere 53 (Trastevere)
Locals endearingly call Ai Marmi l’obitorio (“the morgue”) for its marble tables and walls, but the nearly century-old shop on Trastevere’s main drag remains an institution for wood-fired pizza tonda (you can just ignore the signage on the oven in 1960s typography declaring “pizza napoletana”). The flimsy, thin-crust pizzas are quintessential to the tonda style, generously overhanging their plates. Be sure to check out the lightbox above the bar that lists starters such as fagioli (beans), filetti di baccalà (battered cod filets), and supplì al telefono (the “telefono” referring to the cord of mozzarella inside, which promises a satisfying cheese pull).
Emma Pizzeria con Cucina
Via del Monte della Farina, 28 (Centro Storico)
Emma’s fried starters like supplì, fiori di zucca (fried squash blossoms filled with ricotta and anchovy), and mixed fried vegetables are consistently good and should be followed up with thin-crusted, Roman-style personal pizzas. Many of the pizza toppings are sourced from nearby Salumeria Roscioli, as are the plates of cheese and cured meat. Pies range from the simple Margherita to the luxurious jamón ibérico. I will also say that this is the place that I get the most negative feedback from readers about. I enjoy the pizza and fritti there, but I have been going since the day they opened and they know me so it’s different. Be warned.
Believe it or not, one of the best pizzas in town is the pizza rossa at Trattoria Da Cesare al Casaletto (Via del Casaletto 45). It is served, tonda-style, at dinner only.
Thick-Rimmed Round Personal Pies
La Gatta Mangiona
Via F. Ozanam 30-32 (Monteverde)
This pizzeria and trattoria in Monteverde serves excellent fried starters and pizzas. The beer list is extensive and there is an impressive selection of wine, whiskey, and grappa. NB: It’s packed on Sundays, so it’s one night when the pizza isn’t at its best.
Seu Pizzeria Illuminati
Via Angelo Bargoni 10-18 (Trastevere)
When you walk through the doors of Seu Pizza Illuminati, you’ll feel transported to Copenhagen with the contemporary Scandinavian design and tweezer-wielding cooks in the kitchen. Yet you’re simply at the edge of Trastevere where Pier Daniele Seu and his team serve avant-garde pizzas in an airy, contemporary space on the ground floor of a residential block. The menu is divided into sections like “Old School” and “Certezze” (Sure Bets), both of which embrace beloved toppings like sausage with bitter greens, the marinara, and the Margherita. Meanwhile, the “Pizze Seu” section showcases the pizzaiolo’s original inventions: the “Blackalà” features salt cod, cuttlefish ink, buffalo mozzarella, ink-tinted chips, and mayo while the “Angurinara” is a deliciously summery combination of roasted watermelon and tomatoes, black garlic, and watermelon gel. There are dessert pizzas, too, including one inspired by tiramisù and another by After Eight mints.
IQuintili
Via Eurialo 7c (Furio Camillo)
Campanian pizzaiolo Marco Quintili bakes thick-rimmed pizzas that at first glance appear Neapolitan: puffy-rimmed and baked in a wood-fired oven. But upon tasting his pizzas, you’ll find an unexpected lightness and complexity to the dough, as well as a restraint in toppings that doesn’t render the middle soggy, an unfortunate defect of most Neapolitan competitors. Quintili chooses his toppings to reflect his origins near Naples as well as the pizzeria’s Roman setting, from the pizza with smoked buffalo mozzarella and Nero Casertano heritage-breed sausage, to the “Amatriciana in Fiamme,” a whimsical take on the famous Roman pasta sauce made with tomato, guanciale, and Pecorino Romano. As a final flourish, the pizza is set alight tableside to render the guanciale fat and crisp up its porky edges. There are several locations, including in the Mercato Centrale at Stazione Termini.
Piccolo Buco
Via del Lavoratore 91 (Trevi)
There aren’t many restaurants near the Trevi Fountain (or frankly anywhere in Rome) that can say they work exclusively with local, organic produce. In truth, they don’t have to; most of the neighborhood’s clientele don’t demand or expect it. That doesn’t seem to matter to pizzaiolo Luca Issa at Piccolo Buco, who hand-mixes his dough, shapes it with a thick rim, and adds cheeses, meats, and tomatoes sourced from small producers devoted to traditional agriculture. The result is pizza with a fragrant crust balanced with ingredients like sweet yellow tomatoes, milky buffalo mozzarella, savory anchovies, and salty olive powder and capers. Enhancing the pizzas further, Issa carefully selects an olive oil from his pantry to complement, rather than weigh down, the toppings.
Antica Friggitoria Masardona
Piazza dell’Oro 6 (Centro Storico)
This Naples transplant specializes in fried pizzas in their various forms inspired by the owner Cristiano Piccirillo’s great-grandmother, Anna Manfredi, whose nickname was “la Masardona.” In the 1940s in Naples, Anna and the women who lived on her block would sell fried pizza on the streets in front of their homes in order to make ends meet. They gathered scraps from their cupboards and folded dough around them to form a crescent. The whole thing was cooked in a bubbling vat of oil until golden and served without pretense or silverware, just as the pizze fritte are at Masardona today. The classic pizza fritta is filled with ricotta, cured pork, provolone, tomato, black pepper, and basil, while an array of other filling combinations are named for Piccirillo’s family members, such as the Zio Gennaro with sausage, provolone, and bitter greens. There are also montanare (fried disks of the pizza dough) with a dense tomato-braised meat sauce spooned over it. If all this sounds substantial, keep in mind that in the true Neapolitan tradition, such a meal is preceded with fried starters like pasta or potato croquettes, and at Masardona it’s also followed by pockets or strips of fried dough with jam, chocolate sauce, or ice cream.
Some of Naples’ most important pizzaioli have opened in Rome. Check out Enzo Coccia’s Vico Pizza & Wine and Ciro Salvo’s 50 Kalò in the Sallustiano district. Don’t waste your time at Da Michele.
Pinsa
Pinsere
Via Flavia 98 (Sallustiano)
Pinsa is an oblong-shaped Roman style of pizza that some claim has ancient origins as a precursor to modern pizza. In fact, it was invented at La Pratolina near the Vatican in 2001 and features a blend of wheat, rice, and soy flours. La Pratolina’s pinse bases are riddled with air bubbles and—unlike the round, thin-crusted Roman style—have a structure that can support heavy toppings. At Pinsere, I go for the mozzarella, escarole, almonds, and raisins.
A Style of Its Own
Via Giovanni Branca, 88 (Testaccio)
A trapizzino is not a pizza in the traditional sense, but something that Trapizzino owner Stefano Callegari invented in 2009 at his (now closed) slice joint 00100. The clever fast food concept became so popular that he converted the place into a dedicated fast-casual spot. A trapizzino is a triangular piece of spongy, naturally leavened pizza dough baked in a sheet pan. One side is sliced open and filled like a pita with your choice of a savory dish, which could be chicken cacciatore, burrata and salted anchovies, a single meatball, or eggplant parmigiana. The trapizzino, so called because it is made from pizza dough but resembles the tri-cornered tramezzino sandwich, is served in a paper cone to capture any juices as you eat it on the street or perched at one of Trapizzino’s high-top tables. What began as a way to deliver hearty food in an affordable, portable form to local Romans during an era of financial crisis completely took off in the years that followed, and now there are Trapizzino locations all over town–and indeed all over the world–serving this delectable street food. My favorite location remains the place where the trapizzino was born.
Photography: Ed Anderson
