The 12 Best Trattorias in Rome

The shelves of cured meats and cheese behind the counter give away what this place used to be: a salumeria that quietly grew a kitchen around itself without moving anything out. Tables are small and close together in the Roman way, the bread basket comes from the family bakery down the street, and the carbonara is the version people mean when they argue about carbonara. Selected by the Michelin Guide.

1. 50 Top Italy 2026 · Performance of the Year
2. 50 Top Italy #1 · The Best Italian Restaurants - Modern Trattorias And Bistros
3. 50 Top Italy #3 · The Best Carbonara

Dark wood furniture from the 1950s fills a small, packed dining room near Ostiense, where Trecca runs as a modern Roman trattoria with a serious obsession with offal. The menu pivots around fifth-quarter cuts, classic and gently updated, alongside a natural wine list that never gets preachy about it. Reservations are non-negotiable, and the amatriciana has landed in the top three on 50 Top Italy's ranking of the dish.

1. 50 Top Italy #3 · The Best Amatriciana
2. 50 Top Italy #7 · The Best Carbonara
3. 50 Top Italy #18 · The Best Italian Restaurants - Modern Trattorias And Bistros

Fifties trattoria bones with an open kitchen and reviews papering the walls, SantoPalato in San Giovanni is the kind of Roman trattoria that feels like it has been feeding the neighborhood forever. Sarah Cicolini leans hard into the fifth quarter, offal and all, with daily specials on a chalkboard filling out a tight menu. The carbonara ranks number one on 50 Top Italy's list, which tells you something about the egg-to-guanciale ratio.

1. 50 Top Italy #1 · The Best Carbonara
2. 50 Top Italy #7 · The Best Amatriciana
3. 50 Top Italy #29 · The Best Italian Restaurants - Modern Trattorias And Bistros

An old-school trattoria in Prati where vintage toy cars line the shelves and white tablecloths share the room with a counter where you can eat and talk to the kitchen. The cooking runs deep into Roman tradition, offal and pasta and cod, all handled with the kind of quiet confidence that doesn't need to announce itself. The carbonara has its own reputation. The wine list rewards the curious.

1. 50 Top Italy #6 · The Best Amatriciana
2. 50 Top Italy #9 · The Best Carbonara
3. 50 Top Italy #13 · The Best Italian Restaurants - Modern Trattorias And Bistros

The menu is printed fresh each day, which tells you everything about how this family-run Roman trattoria operates. Ingredients follow the market and the season; the rigatoni all'amatriciana, built on properly fatty guanciale, does not change at all. 50 Top Italy ranked it among the country's finest versions of that dish, which is a reasonable argument for ordering it first. The room runs warm, the owners mean it, and the whole thing feels reassuringly unchanged.

1. 50 Top Italy #9 · The Best Amatriciana
2. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In Rome
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Rome

A Roman trattoria where the menu follows the seasons and the old neighborhood habits, not the trends. The carbonara gets serious attention, thick-cut guanciale staying juicy, the egg cream resolutely unfussy, and it landed on 50 Top Italy's carbonara list. Fried bites, offal, braised things, and a wine list of small producers fill out the rest, which is more than most places in the capital bother with.

1. 50 Top Italy #8 · The Best Carbonara
2. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Rome

Carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana, gricia: the Roman canon, cooked straight, no editorializing. This Ostiense neighborhood trattoria has a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a reputation that now reaches well past its own streets, so book by phone or don't bother showing up. The room is simple and unhurried, the service genuinely warm in the way that can't be faked, and a handful of more creative dishes sit alongside the classics without disturbing them.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In Rome
3. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Rome

Trippa alla romana and fried brain share the menu with carbonara and amatriciana at this no-frills trattoria near the Vatican, where the pasta comes in a notably generous pour and the kitchen doesn't stray far from Lazio tradition. The room is simple to the point of looking accidental, which is precisely the point. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and locals who could walk here fill the seats alongside tourists who found it on purpose.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. The Infatuation The 24 Best Restaurants In Rome

White tablecloths and a bright room in the Trionfale neighborhood, where a trattoria built around Roman classics draws the kind of crowd that actually knows its guanciale. The team behind it includes a chef with serious fine-dining credentials, which explains why the cacio e pepe and amatriciana feel familiar and yet somehow sharper than you expected. The wine list rewards attention, and the service keeps a pace that doesn't make you feel processed.

1. 50 Top Italy #4 · The Best Amatriciana
2. 50 Top Italy #44 · The Best Italian Restaurants - Modern Trattorias And Bistros

You have to ring a doorbell to get in, which sets the tone nicely for this old-school Roman trattoria near Campo dei Fiori. The team behind Cesare al Casaletto took over after the beloved predecessor closed, keeping the tiled floors, midcentury furniture, and a tight menu that still features the previous owner's pan-fried meatballs. It's the kind of place that resists the urge to reinvent itself, which is exactly the point.

1. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Rome

A trattoria wedged into a medieval tower on Tiber Island, which is already a strong opening move. Sora Lella has been turning out cucina romana since forever, and the third generation has quietly sharpened things back up after a long, comfortable coasting phase. The wine list skips the obvious and leans into Lazio's overlooked labels. Wood-paneled rooms, cacio e pepe somewhere on the menu, and the kind of crowd that didn't need a reservation app to find this place.

1. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Rome

1. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in Rome