Walk 5 to 16 minutes from the Colosseum and you can eat pizza al taglio facing the Circus Maximus, sit at a chef’s table or a Piedmont wine bar in Monti, try Lazio cooking near San Giovanni or have Rome’s cream-filled maritozzo in Esquilino. We’d send a friend to all eight of these places.
The short list
8 places, in the order they appear below.
- 01Fratelli TreccaPizza al taglio and supplìWalk from the Colosseum: about 13 minCircus Maximus
- 02Mary - Microforno e GelateriaTakeaway toast, pastry and gelatoWalk from the Colosseum: about 9 minPiazza della Madonna dei Monti
- 03FuturaChef's table, handmade pastaWalk from the Colosseum: about 12 minMonti
- 04Locanda BucarelliLazio cooking, wine by the glassWalk from the Colosseum: about 15 minSan Giovanni
- 05FáfiuchéPiedmont wine and a long dinnerWalk from the Colosseum: about 9 minMonti
- 06Regoli PasticceriaMaritozzo with creamWalk from the Colosseum: about 15 minEsquilino
- 07Forno ContiCardamom bun and filter coffeeWalk from the Colosseum: about 16 minEsquilino
- 08Aroma Restaurant RomaOccasion dinner with a viewWalk from the Colosseum: about 5 minVia Labicana
Where can I get a quick lunch near the Colosseum?
For a fast lunch between sights, we’d pick Fratelli Trecca on Via dei Cerchi, about 13 minutes on foot, or Mary on Piazza della Madonna dei Monti, about 9 minutes away. Trecca does pizza al taglio and fried food across from the Circus Maximus. Mary is a takeaway counter. Neither ties you to a long sit-down meal in the middle of a day of ruins.
The brothers behind Trecca, a restaurant known for its market cooking, now put trattoria dishes on crisp Roman tray pizza. Start with a supplì, then get the slice with veal tongue and salsa verde. It sounds heavy. It eats delicate.
Fratelli Trecca
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sun 12:30–22:30
Address: Via dei Cerchi, 55, 00186 Roma RM, Italia
Mary is a tiny microbakery and gelateria from the team behind Love and Slow. Everything goes out as takeaway, so plan on eating on the steps by the fountain in the piazza. The toast is made with croissant dough instead of sliced bread; order the savoury one. If you want something sweet, the gelato comes in jars, pressed between cookies or piped into a croissant.
Mary - Microforno e Gelateria
Hours: Mon–Sun 07:30–22:30
Address: Piazza della Madonna dei Monti, 9, 00184 Roma RM, Italia
Where can I have a proper sit-down meal near the Colosseum?
Monti and San Giovanni, a walk away from the arena, are where to sit down for an unhurried meal. Futura is a 20-seat chef’s table on Via Panisperna, about 12 minutes away. Near the basilica of San Giovanni, about 15 minutes out, Locanda Bucarelli has around thirty seats; the neighbourhood comes in at lunch and a wine-minded crowd arrives for dinner.
Chef Anastasia Paris comes from Abruzzo and has cooked from Trastevere to Melbourne. At Futura she writes a short list of dishes with no starters or mains, so you build the meal to suit yourself, and the list changes often. Her handmade pasta with ricotta and lemon under a three-tomato sauce shows her cooking most clearly. If it’s on the off-menu board that day, order it.
Futura
Hours: Mon–Tue 18:00–23:00 · Wed closed · Thu 18:00–23:00 · Fri–Sat 12:30–14:30, 18:00–23:00 · Sun 12:30–14:30
Address: Via Panisperna, 222/A, 00184 Roma RM, Italia
Filippo Bucarelli opened his first restaurant in late summer 2026, in a room of warm wood and soft light. The cooking is regional Italian centred on Lazio: baccalà alla romana with tomato, pine nuts and raisins, anellini with roasted peppers and herbed breadcrumbs, spaghetti with onion, anchovy and sumac. About forty wines are on the list, many poured by the glass, so ask what’s open before you commit to a bottle. Lunch is quieter. The kitchen is the same.
Locanda Bucarelli
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sat 12:00–15:00, 19:00–23:00 · Sun 12:00–15:00
Address: Via di S. Giovanni in Laterano, 270, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Where can I go for wine and dinner near the Colosseum?
Fáfiuché, on Via della Madonna dei Monti about 9 minutes from the Colosseum, is the place for an evening built around wine. Bottles cover the red walls from floor to ceiling, and both the list and the food come from Piedmont. There are some three hundred Barolo and Barbaresco labels alone, so leave time for a long dinner.
From the kitchen come bagna cauda and a duck lasagna. Regulars order the chicory and fava bean purée without opening the menu. Finish with the chocolate bruschetta (toasted bread with shaved chocolate and olive oil), which many people never think to order.
Fáfiuché
Hours: Mon–Sat 18:30–00:00 · Sun closed
Address: Via della Madonna dei Monti, 28, 00184 Roma RM, Italy
Where should I have breakfast before visiting the Colosseum?
Esquilino, about 15 minutes’ walk from the Colosseum, has two very different morning stops. Regoli has made pastry since 1916 and is known for the maritozzo, a soft sweet bun split open and filled with whipped cream. Forno Conti is a contemporary bakery with an open kitchen, sourdough and specialty coffee, closer to a Nordic café than a Roman bar.
Regoli’s maritozzi sell out every day, so arrive before 11:00. If they’re gone, have the Bavarese or the wild strawberry tart. Plenty of Romans prefer those anyway.
Regoli Pasticceria
Hours: Mon 07:00–19:00 · Tue closed · Wed–Sun 07:00–19:00
Address: Via dello Statuto, 60, 00185 Roma RM, Italia
At Forno Conti, skip the Italian counter and order the cardamom bun, a sticky knot of spiced dough. Have it with their filter coffee, roasted by Faro. It’s a good breakfast once you’ve had your fill of cornetti.
Forno Conti
Hours: Mon–Fri 08:30–15:10 · Sat 09:00–15:30 · Sun closed
Address: Via Giusti, 18, 00185 Roma RM, Italia
Is there a restaurant with a view of the Colosseum?
Yes. Aroma is on the rooftop of Palazzo Manfredi on Via Labicana, about 5 minutes on foot, and its terrace looks straight at the Colosseum. Chef Giuseppe Di Iorio cooks gourmet Italian and Mediterranean food, and the wine list runs to hundreds of labels. Visitors and Romans both book well ahead, so reserve as soon as your dates are fixed.
Save it for an occasion, not a stop between sights, and don’t rush the evening. The view is half of what you’re paying for.
Aroma Restaurant Roma
Hours: Mon–Tue 19:00–23:00 · Wed–Sun 12:30–15:00, 19:00–23:00
Address: Via Labicana, 125, 00184 Roma RM, Italia
How far is each place from the Colosseum?
All eight places are 5 to 16 minutes’ walk from the Colosseum. The pizza al taglio faces the Circus Maximus and the Lazio restaurant sits near San Giovanni. Use the table below to match a place to the time of day.
Start the day with breakfast in Esquilino or Monti and have lunch a short walk from the ruins. Save the rooftop or the wine bar for the evening. Several of these places close one day a week and some open only for part of the day, so check each card before you set out. We’d book the sit-down restaurants for dinner. And wear comfortable shoes: you can walk to every place on this list.
