Forno Campo de' Fiori
Through the window beside Forno Campo de' Fiori you can watch Osvaldo, a 40-year veteran of the bakery, coax lumps of dough into five-foot pizzas.
Why go
Fabrizio Roscioli runs the forno with his partner Bernardino Bartocci. He started here in the eighties as a delivery boy at seventeen and worked up to baker (Luciano Pignataro Wine Blog, 2021). Floriana Barone wrote in 2021 that he is a distant relative of the Roscioli family of Via dei Chiavari, who run Antico Forno Roscioli and the Salumeria Roscioli restaurant. Pierluigi Roscioli, of that family, told Gambero Rosso in 2024 that the Campo de' Fiori forno belongs to his great-uncle Mario and is run by a company, Roscioli-Bartocci; they are two more of my cousins
(Gambero Rosso, 2024). Fabrizio keeps gourmet pizza off the counter because, as Barone reports him saying, pizza must be cheap for everyone
(2021).
Start with the pizza bianca. Fabrizio told Ristonews in 2018 that it is thirty centimeters wide and two meters long, and simple and light: flour, water, salt, yeast and a thread of extra virgin olive oil before and after baking for that good aroma
(Ristonews, 2018). Lavinia Martini of Puntarella Rossa called it the best in Rome, crisp, oily and salted just right, plain or filled with mortadella
in 2014 (Puntarella Rossa, 2014). Have it filled. The mortadella is Alcisa's Due Torri Mortadella Bologna IGP (Barone, 2021). Salvatore Cosenza of Agrodolce wrote in 2020 that the bianca, light and fragrant, filled with abundant and very fragrant mortadella, goes beyond mere food reporting and enters myth
(Agrodolce, 2020). Katie Parla wrote: "The pizza bianca and mortadella sandwich at Forno Campo de' Fiori is amazing and one of my favorite bites in centro" (Katie Parla, 2024).
Add a red slice. Annie Replogle of The Infatuation describes their crispy pizza rossa that's topped with a thin layer of tomato and glistening small pools of oil
(The Infatuation, 2024). Parla goes for the zucchini flowers: "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" (Katie Parla, 2024).
The staff cut the pizza from slabs, weigh it and wrap it in brown paper for you to take away (Parla, 2024). There are no seats, so do what Replogle suggests: Take it all to go and eat it while leaning against a fountain in view of a palace that Michelangelo designed in the next piazza over
(The Infatuation, 2022). Daria Reina, the founder of the Roman boutique Chez Dede, puts this forno beside Antico Forno Roscioli as the two quick bites of the center, always busy, and worth the line
(The Relisher, 2024).
Order this / avoid
- Order: pizza bianca with mortadella (pizza e mortazza), for Katie Parla (2024) and Salvatore Cosenza (Agrodolce, 2020).3
- Order: pizza rossa, for Annie Replogle (The Infatuation, 2024).1
- Order: the fiori di zucca slice, for Parla (2024).4
- Order: plain pizza bianca, for Lavinia Martini (Puntarella Rossa, 2014).11
What locals & experts say
- Annie Replogle, The Infatuation (2022):
Long strips of pizza bianca get topped with tomato sauce or thinly sliced potatoes, or come stuffed with mortadella or zucchini flowers.
2
Good to know
- Hours: Monday to Saturday, shut on Sunday. The forno closes in the middle of the afternoon and reopens late in the afternoon. In 2026 it closed from 10 to 24 August (Katie Parla).
- The annex: across the alley on Vicolo del Gallo, it sells filled pizza, chiefly pizza e mortazza. Use it when the main forno shuts in the afternoon (Parla, 2024; Barone, 2021).
- Booking: none. You queue at the counter and pay by weight.
- Where: Campo de' Fiori 22, behind the flower sellers on the square.
Verdict
should-visit — Buy pizza bianca by weight on Campo de' Fiori, with or without mortadella. Come in the morning or toward evening, because the counter takes an afternoon break and stays shut on Sunday.