Rome has two pizzas of its own. One is the thin, crisp tonda, baked at pizzerias in the evening. The other is pizza al taglio, baked in rectangular trays and usually priced by weight through the day. Our picks cover both: L’Elementare and 180 Grammi for the round kind, Bonci and Frumentario for slices. We’ve added two Neapolitan ovens and a counter that splits the white base and stuffs it.
The short list
12 places, in the order they appear below.
- 1L’Elementare – Ponte TestaccioStyle: Tonda romanaOrder this: The classic crisp Roman round
- 2180 GrammiStyle: Tonda romanaOrder this: A seasonal pizza from the current menu
- 3Santini Pizzeria RomanaStyle: Tonda romanaOrder this: Pizzas made with Velletri produce
- 4Pizzeria PapanostroStyle: Tonda romanaOrder this: The scrocchiarella
- 5Bonci PizzariumStyle: Al taglioOrder this: A seasonal slice
- 6FrumentarioStyle: Al taglioOrder this: Two Potatoes and Guanciale
- 7Sancho dal 1969Style: Al taglioOrder this: Porchetta di Tonno
- 8Ruver Teglia FrazionataStyle: Al taglioOrder this: Raguver
- 9Piccolo BucoStyle: NeapolitanOrder this: Margherita Gialla
- 1050 Kalò RomaStyle: NeapolitanOrder this: Margherita dell'Alleanza
- 11RipienaStyle: Stuffed pizza biancaOrder this: Pizza da 10
- 12Pizzeria ClementinaStyle: Roman sourdough by the seaOrder this: A pizza with local fish
Where do Romans go for thin, crispy pizza in the evening?
For tonda romana, go to a pizzeria at dinner time. The base should be thin and low, with a real crunch; Romans call it scrocchiarella. Order a few supplì or other fried starters for the table first: each kitchen turns Roman pasta classics into crunchy bites.
L’Elementare, by Ponte Testaccio, bakes the classic low, crisp Roman round in a relaxed, friendly room. The fried starters here get as much attention as the pizza, especially the supplì di pasta, where tonnarelli cacio e pepe or fettuccine al ragù take the place of the usual rice.
L’Elementare – Ponte Testaccio
Hours: Mon–Thu 19:00–00:00 · Fri–Sat 19:00–01:00 · Sun 19:00–00:00
Address: Via degli Stradivari, 25, 00153 Roma RM, Italy
On Via Genazzano, 180 Grammi puts the same thin, low Roman base under seasonal pizzas from a chef who changes the menu often. The room is lively. The bite to order is the Sampietrino, a cube of dough shaped like the city’s cobblestones, with a filling that changes (cacio e pepe is one).
180 Grammi
Hours: Mon 19:00–00:00 · Tue closed · Wed–Sun 19:00–00:00
Address: Via Genazzano, 32, 00177 Roma RM, Italy
Santini Pizzeria Romana faces the Alberone market, on the edge of Appio Latino. With more than a hundred seats and long tables, it’s set up for families and groups of friends. Gabriele Santini makes his thin pizzas with produce from Velletri, his family’s home town in the Castelli Romani. The kitchen is proudest of the ones made with that week’s Velletri produce.
Santini Pizzeria Romana
Hours: Mon–Fri 07:00–14:30, 18:15–23:30 · Sat 07:00–23:30 · Sun 17:00–23:30
Address: Via Francesco Valesio, 15/23, 00179 Roma RM, Italy
Pizzeria Papanostro, on Viale delle Orchidee, is informal. Come for the super-thin scrocchiarella. Before it, try the cacio e pepe supplì, made with Sarawak pepper and Pecorino Romano aged 18 months.
Pizzeria Papanostro
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sat 19:00–23:00 · Sun 18:30–23:00
Address: Viale delle Orchidee, 2, 00171 Roma RM, Italy
Where to get the best pizza al taglio in Rome?
Pizza al taglio is cut from big rectangular pans into square or oblong slices, which are usually weighed to set the price. It’s how Rome eats pizza during the day. Each of these four counters has its own approach. Bonci treats seasonal toppings and fermentation as a craft, and Frumentario works a long-fermented, highly hydrated dough. At Sancho the trays are thin and slow-risen. Ruver lets you mix flavours in one tray.
At Pizzarium on Via della Meloria, Gabriele Bonci’s dough is light and airy, with a crunchy base under creative seasonal toppings. The supplì di spaghetti packs carbonara or amatriciana into one golden fried ball.
Bonci Pizzarium
Hours: Mon–Sun 11:15–22:00
Address: Via della Meloria, 43, 00136 Roma RM, Italy
Frumentario, on Via Tuscolana, makes slices with a crust that’s crunchy outside and light and airy inside, and toppings that are creative but balanced. Try Two Potatoes and Guanciale: purple and sweet potatoes baked in foil, crispy guanciale and three-milk pecorino. Wait for the final touch before you walk off with it.
Frumentario
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sat 11:00–22:00 · Sun closed
Address: Via Tuscolana, 26, 00182 Roma RM, Italy
Sancho dal 1969 is the Di Lelio family’s long-established al taglio shop. Its dough rises slowly into thin, flavourful trays, with generous toppings drawn from traditional Italian cooking. The slice that defines the place is Porchetta di Tonno: fresh tuna belly roasted with herbs, the way you’d roast pork. Ask whether the king prawn supplì is on.
Sancho dal 1969
Hours: Mon–Sat 11:30–21:00 · Sun closed
Address: Via Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, 3a, 00193 Roma RM, Italy
Ruver, on Viale Aventino, bakes teglia frazionata. One tray is split into different flavours, so a group can share several at once. Its defining slice is the Raguver, with Chianina beef ragù and big pieces of carrot and onion.
Ruver Teglia Frazionata
Hours: Mon–Wed 10:00–21:00 · Thu–Sat 10:00–21:30 · Sun closed
Address: Viale Aventino, 46, 00153 Roma RM, Italy
Where to find Neapolitan pizza in Rome?
Rome’s own pizza is thin and low, but two pizzerias on our list bake the Neapolitan kind very well. Expect a soft, airy crust with a slightly charred, tender edge and a thin, elastic base. Piccolo Buco is near the Trevi Fountain; 50 Kalò is on Via Flavia. Both think hard about their tomatoes, mozzarella and olive oil.
Luca Issa’s Piccolo Buco feels more like a trattoria than a pizzeria, with vaulted ceilings and a small, intimate room. Order the Margherita Gialla, where sweet yellow datterini tomatoes go on a highly hydrated dough. Every pizza comes with its own extra virgin olive oil.
Piccolo Buco
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sun 11:30–23:30
Address: Via del Lavatore, 91, 00187 Roma RM, Italy
Ciro Salvo founded 50 Kalò, and the dough is ultra-light, highly hydrated and easy to digest. The menu’s Pizze dell’Alleanza section uses only small, traceable producers. From it, order the Margherita dell’Alleanza, with buffalo mozzarella from Caserta and olive oil added after baking.
50 Kalò Roma
Hours: Mon–Sun 12:30–15:30, 18:30–00:00
Address: Via Flavia, 3b, 00187 Roma RM, Italy
What other pizza is worth trying in Rome?
Two more styles complete the list. Ripiena does nothing but pizza bianca alla pala: the long-leavened white Roman base, split open and filled generously. Further out, Clementina in Fiumicino, the seaside town next to the airport, puts fish from the coast and whatever is in season on a thin Roman sourdough crust.
Ripiena, on Via Gabriello Chiabrera, is Massimiliano Ceccarelli’s passion project. The Pizza da 10 fills the bread with crabmeat, salad and mayo. It works far better than it sounds.
Ripiena
Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–22:00 · Sun closed
Address: Via Gabriello Chiabrera, 107, 00145 Roma RM, Italy
Pizzeria Clementina occupies Fiumicino’s old cinema: about seventy seats, and a wood-fired oven where the screen used to be. Luca Pezzetta’s pizzas come as written, with no changes, and artichokes are fried the Jewish Roman way. A sommelier is on hand to guide diners through several hundred wines, a far deeper cellar than a pizzeria usually keeps. It makes a good last dinner before an early flight.
Pizzeria Clementina
Hours: Mon–Fri 17:30–23:30 · Sat–Sun 12:30–15:00, 18:30–23:30
Address: Via della Torre Clementina, 158, 00054 Fiumicino RM, Italy
Most of the tonda pizzerias open only in the evening, while the al taglio counters are serving by late morning. Closing days vary, so check each card for opening hours.
