Piperno
Piperno fries each carciofo alla giudia slowly before service and again in very hot fat once it is ordered, which leaves it crisp outside and soft inside.
Why go
The Piperno family opened this restaurant in 1860 on Monte de' Cenci, a tiny piazza at the edge of the Ghetto in the rione (district) of Regola. The Mazzarella and Boni families have run it since 1963 (Piperno). The menu carries Roman-Jewish dishes, but Elizabeth Minchilli points out that Piperno, like the neighborhood's other original restaurants, is neither Kosher nor Jewish owned
(Elizabeth Minchilli, 2015). Daria Reina, the founder of Chez Dede, names it among the restaurants where she is a regular (The Relisher, 2024).
From 1909 until his death in 1962, Romeo Marchetti, editor of the satirical magazine Il Pupazzetto, held an annual spring artichoke dinner here, and carciofi alla giudia (artichokes fried the Jewish way) crowned it. Anthony Burgess, who ate here on Yom Kippur in 1977, called Piperno one of the great restaurants of Europe.
He described Roman Campagna artichokes that come out of the oil looking like chrysanthemums, aromatic, full of the delicate gust of spring itself
(Saturday Review, 1978, reprinted by the Anthony Burgess Foundation). The house says it fries them all year. In June 2015 Minchilli found it still serving them into the summer, using imported artichokes from France.
For the offal, order the coratella (lamb heart, lungs and liver). Annie Replogle of The Infatuation left remembering the emerald green walls and the platter of coratella.
She wrote: Here, the innards are slowly sautéed with caramelized onions, creating a subtly sweet sauce that mellows their gamey flavor.
She told readers to mop up the gravy with bread. Waiters top off glasses without asking and recite the menu like they wrote it themselves
(The Infatuation, 2025).
Minchilli, who has eaten here since her family lived in Rome in the seventies, says the fishy route
is always a good choice here.
In 2015 that meant grilled squid and shrimp. The dessert to ask about is the palle del nonno (grandfather's balls), and the two accounts of it disagree. Burgess was served a flaky pastry filled with cream and homemade plum preserves,
dropped into boiling fat for an instant. Minchilli in 2015 and Eleonora Baldwin of Gambero Rosso in 2017 both describe deep-fried ricotta dumplings studded with chocolate, and Minchilli tells readers to order them (Gambero Rosso, 2017).
Katie Parla wrote in 2024 that Piperno is unfortunately past its prime and a bit overpriced, but it's hard to beat the fritti and the outdoor seating in the summer is lovely
(Katie Parla, 2024). The fritti are the fried dishes. In 2015 Puntarella Rossa called the menu not too cheap.
It priced the carciofo alla giudia at 15 euros on its own, or 23 euros inside the gran fritto with a zucchini flower, a potato croquette, a supplì (fried rice croquette) and an ovolina (small mozzarella) (Puntarella Rossa, 2015). The Infatuation put it in its top price band in 2025.
In June 2015 Minchilli wrote that Piperno moves its bentwood dining chairs out for the summer, into a piazza that even Roman taxi drivers have a hard time finding
(Elizabeth Minchilli).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the carciofo alla giudia,
divine
to Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff (Jewish Journal, 2022).11 - Order: the coratella, for Annie Replogle (The Infatuation, 2025).6
- Order: the fritti, for Katie Parla (2024).7
- Order: the grilled squid and shrimp, for Elizabeth Minchilli (2015).5
Good to know
- Booking: book through the restaurant's site, with a credit card as a guarantee, or call 06 6880 6629.
- Sundays: Katie Parla put Piperno on her 2024 list of where to eat in Rome on a Sunday. Call to check the closing day before you plan around it.
- The house pasta: Piperno says its spaghetti cacio e unto, tossed with pecorino romano and lard, is its own recipe and its most-ordered dish after the artichokes (Piperno).
- Not to confuse: Pipero, Alessandro Pipero's restaurant on Corso Vittorio Emanuele, is a different room.
- Where: Monte de' Cenci 9, Regola, at the edge of the Ghetto.
Verdict
should-visit — Book Piperno for the fried artichoke and a plate of coratella, and ask for a table in the piazza in summer. Expect a high bill.