Best Pizza Restaurants in Rome 2026
By Anaïs Laurent · Published · Updated
Three formats, eight pizzerie, one city. Roman pizza is not one style but three — the crisp thin tonda from a wood oven, the long-fermented rectangular teglia, and the al taglio counter slices sold by weight. The eight rooms below cover each format and the names that built the modern Roman pizza scene: Gabriele Bonci at Pizzarium, Jacopo Mercuro at 180g, the Roscioli family at Emma, and Stefano Callegari at Sforno. Three Centocelle ovens, two Trastevere institutions, one Vatican-adjacent counter, and the corner forno where the pizza bianca tradition was perfected eighty years ago.
Eight Roman Pizzerie Worth the Queue
Gabriele Bonci opened Pizzarium in 2003 and changed how Romans think about pizza al taglio. The dough ferments for 72 hours at controlled temperatures, gets shaped by hand into long rectangular trays, and finishes with a crumb structure closer to a sourdough boule than to a stadium slice. The toppings rotate daily across about twenty boards — vegetables most pizzerie do not bother with (cardoons in winter, agretti in spring, puntarelle), heritage cured meats, and a small handful of cheese-and-tomato classics. Order by pointing at what you want, ask for the weight, eat standing at the outdoor counter. There are no seats.
Jacopo Mercuro opened 180g in 2018 and pulled the centre of gravity for Roman pizza in teglia eastward, out of the city centre and into Centocelle. The format is the format Romans grew up with — high-hydration dough in a rectangular pan — but Mercuro pushes every variable. Dough hydration at 80%, fermentation between 48 and 72 hours, a sourdough starter from 2015, San Marzano DOP tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala from a single Campanian producer. The six-square tasting board is the booking; each square carries a different topping calibrated to the season.
Pierluigi Roscioli opened Emma in 2014 a four-minute walk from the family salumeria, and the format is a pizza tonda romana — thin-crusted, cracker-edged, blistered — built on the Roscioli pantry. The mortadella is Bologna's Pasquini IGP cut at the salumeria that morning. The mozzarella is from Tenuta Vannulo in Campania. The flour blend is the same the Roscioli bakery uses for its Rosa di Roma loaf. Order the cacio e pepe pizza if you have eaten the carbonara at the main address; it is the single best translation of a Roman pasta into a pizza topping in the city.
Stefano Callegari is the pizzaiolo who invented the cacio e pepe pizza in 2009 (now copied by every Roman pizzeria) and the trapizzino — the pocket-shaped pizza-bread sandwich that has spread from a Testaccio counter to twenty cities. Sforno is his Cinecittà flagship. The room is bigger and busier than its reputation suggests, two long banquettes against a south-facing window and a wood oven visible from every seat. The pizza Greenwich pairs blue Stilton with porcini and a port reduction — it sounds like a stunt and reads like a finished plate.
Giancarlo Casa opened La Gatta Mangiona in 1999 and the room has been one of the most consistent pizza tonda kitchens in Rome ever since. The dough is fermented for 24 hours, the wood oven runs at 430°C, and the bake takes ninety seconds. What sets the room apart is the starter programme: fritto misto with battered courgette flowers and stuffed olives, supplì made with rice from the Po Valley, baccalà fritters dressed with anchovy and capers. Order two starters and one pizza per person and you will eat for €40 a head with a glass of Frascati.
Ai Marmi has run on Viale di Trastevere for seventy years and Romans still call it L'Obitorio — "the morgue" — because the tables are slabs of white marble and the lighting is fluorescent. The pizza is the reverse: thin, crisp, blistered, almost cracker-like at the edge, and topped with restraint. The kitchen does not take reservations, the queue forms by 19:00, and the staff turn tables in forty minutes. Order one pizza, one fritto, one half-litre of house wine, and ask for the bill before you finish; turnover is the entire business model.
Baffetto opened on Via del Governo Vecchio in 1969 and has trained a generation of Roman pizzaioli — the wood oven, the cracker-thin Roman tonda, the round paper plates, the no-frills service. The room is small, loud, and turns tables at the same pace as Ai Marmi. The pizza Baffetto is the dish that named the room: mozzarella, mushrooms, sausage, artichoke, and an egg cracked over the top in the last thirty seconds of the bake. Reservations open one week ahead by phone (no email) and Saturday slots disappear the morning the line opens.
The Forno on the corner of Campo de' Fiori is where Roman pizza bianca was perfected. A thin sheet of dough, brushed with olive oil and dusted with sea salt, baked until the surface bubbles and the underside crisps, then cut with scissors into squares. Eat it standing at the counter outside, or fold a piece around a slice of Roscioli mortadella for €6. The room is small, the queue moves fast, and the format has not changed since the 1950s. This is the slice Romans eat at 11:00 between meetings, not the slice tourists photograph.
How to Pick the Right Roman Pizza for Your Evening
Pizza al taglio (Pizzarium, Forno Campo de' Fiori) is a daytime snack format — buy by weight, eat standing, no reservation needed. Pizza in teglia (180g) is the modern fine-dining pizza, a 90-minute sit-down meal with a tasting board. Pizza tonda romana (Emma, Sforno, La Gatta Mangiona, Ai Marmi, Baffetto) is the classic Roman dinner pizza — thin, crisp, one per person, with a starter and a glass of house wine.
Centro Storico holds Baffetto, Emma, and the Forno within ten minutes' walk; ideal for a single evening. Trastevere has Ai Marmi on the Viale and Pizzeria Ivo around the corner. The eastern suburbs (Centocelle, Cinecittà) hold 180g and Sforno — both worth the metro ride for a destination dinner. Pizzarium is a lunch detour off the Vatican Museum visit.
A group of six wants tonda romana — order one pizza per person plus three starters to share. A couple on a quiet date wants 180g's six-square tasting. A walking lunch wants Pizzarium or Forno Campo de' Fiori. A late-night first slice after a long bar crawl wants Ai Marmi at 23:30.
Ai Marmi, Baffetto, and Pizzarium all run on queue mechanics; expect 20–60 minutes on a Friday or Saturday. Emma, Sforno, and 180g take reservations and run a calmer service. La Gatta Mangiona is the easiest weekday booking on the list — a Tuesday or Wednesday rarely needs more than a day's notice.