Le Levain
Le Levain's pain au chocolat wraps two bars of Valrhona dark chocolate in croissant dough made with Isigny butter.
Why go
In 2021 Puntarella Rossa wrote: Before the pastry chef Giuseppe Solfrizzi put down roots in a little street near Piazza San Cosimato, you heard very little about French leavened pastry in Rome
(Puntarella Rossa). Solfrizzi, from Puglia, took Gambero Rosso's cooking course in 2008 and then spent two years with Massimo Spigaroli at the Antica Corte Pallavicina, where he fell for leavening. He followed a colleague to Alain Ducasse's L'Andana in Tuscany. I was there for the bread, but the bread was made in the pastry kitchen,
he told Antonella De Santis of Gambero Rosso in 2019. He also trained at the École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie in Lyon. After two years with Ducasse he spent a year as head pastry chef at L'Albereta and opened Le Levain, French for the mother yeast, in December 2014 (Gambero Rosso).
He bakes in an open workshop behind the big counter. In 2017 Chiara Mattioli of Puntarella Rossa listed what goes into his croissant: stone-ground organic flour from Molino Quaglia, the mother yeast, Pamplie AOP butter and a pre-ferment called polis
. He laminates it the French way, with one single turn and one double. The result, she wrote, is a croissant worth a stadium wave: the layers of pastry are crisp and the inside melts at the bite
(Puntarella Rossa).
In 2025 Annie Replogle of The Infatuation wrote: Their flaky croissants and decadent chocolate tarts are good, but their tortino with ricotta and chocolate takes the cake (literally).
She described it as a crisp, cakey crust cradling creamy ricotta, studded with dark chocolate and chopped walnuts
(The Infatuation). Roy Caceres, the chef at Metamorfosi, told Gambero Rosso International in 2016: A bakery and pastry shop that both I and my children appreciate very much. When in season be sure to try the montblanc cake here
(Gambero Rosso International).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the croissant, sweet or savoury and filled while you wait. It was 1 euro 20 cents when Chiara Mattioli wrote it up for Puntarella Rossa in 2017.3
- Order: the pain au chocolat. Puntarella Rossa (2021):
The secret ingredient? The generosity with the butter, without fear or second thoughts.
1 It was 2 euros 20 cents in 2023.4 - Order: the tortino with ricotta and chocolate, Annie Replogle's pick of the counter for The Infatuation (2025).5
- Order: the montblanc when it is in season, on Roy Caceres's word (2016).6
Good to know
- Where: Via Luigi Santini 22, a small street by Piazza San Cosimato in Trastevere. Le Levain Café, the second shop at Via Piave 8 near Porta Pia, runs with the Picapau coffee roasters and gives the café more room.7
- When: the MICHELIN Guide's undated list of Rome's best pasticcerie has the Trastevere shop open every day, from morning into the evening.9
- Seats: Annie Replogle (2025):
Enjoy everything at one of the few small tables inside, or try and snag one of the two counters outside the restaurant.
5 - Delivery: the shop sells some of its pastry online for delivery.10
Verdict
should-visit — Come in the morning for French viennoiserie raised on the mother yeast, the croissant and the pain au chocolat first, and add the ricotta and chocolate tortino. There are only a handful of seats and no bookings.