Rome.

Start the morning at Faro on Via Piave, because Sunday is the day Sarah Cicolini goes. She calls it the best coffee in Rome and says office workers pack the room the rest of the week.

Then take Sunday lunch at Pecorino in Testaccio and eat the artichokes three ways. They come fried alla giudia, folded through maltagliati and braised with garlic and mint. Annie Replogle of The Infatuation says the fried ones crackle with every bite. Tiziano Palucci, chef-owner of Barred, counts it among his three unmissable rooms in Rome. Expect sarcasm from the waiters.

Stay in the quarter for dinner at Flavio al Velavevodetto, which serves lunch and dinner every day. Gabriele Gervasi, chef de cuisine at Il Ristorante Niko Romito, calls its cacio e pepe the best in Rome, and Gambero Rosso adds the fried polpette di bollito (meatballs of boiled meat). The room is enormous and still fills up, so book on the house site.

Book weekday lunch at Armando al Pantheon, which closes on Sunday and is open on Monday. Sarah Cicolini, chef-owner of SantoPalato, sends people here at lunch for the coda alla vaccinara, a classic Roman oxtail stew... slow-cooked with plenty of celery and tomatoes. Katie Parla writes that the online bookings go live a month out, so this is the table to arrange from home.

Spend the early evening at Trimani il Wine Bar. Cicolini drinks the Langhe reds here with the small plates. The bottles carry the markup of the enoteca next door, so a Barolo costs less here than across the city.

Finish with pizza at Da Remo in Testaccio, because Roman pizzerias open for dinner. The round is paper-thin with charred edges, and Time Out put a meal at ten to fifteen euros a head in May 2025. Da Remo takes no bookings, so arrive as it opens.

Go to a slice counter, because Roman pizzerias open only for dinner. Sarah Cicolini says Naples is the Italian city where a pizzeria regularly opens at midday. In Rome the daytime pizza is baked in trays and sold by weight.

Start at Bonci Pizzarium on Via della Meloria. Gabriele Bonci ferments the dough for up to seventy-two hours, and the chef Gianfranco Pascucci calls the result unbeatable. Katie Parla says the queue thins after the lunch rush. It closes on Monday.

On the same side of the river, Pizzeria Sancho in Prati is Gabriele Gervasi's pick for "the best pizza in the city". Start with the rossa, which he describes as thin, crisp pizza with tomato and no cheese, then a stuffed bianca.

In the centre, take a strip of pizza bianca at Forno Campo de' Fiori or Antico Forno Roscioli. Forno Campo de' Fiori folds it around mortadella, takes an afternoon break and shuts on Sunday. At Antico Forno Roscioli, Parla says the pizza bianca is the thing to buy.

Book SantoPalato in Appio-Latino. Gabriele Gervasi rarely orders carbonara in a restaurant, and he still calls Sarah Cicolini's the best I've had in Rome (The Relisher, October 2026). Katie Parla calls it pretty spectacular, as well, after the offal. Gambero Rosso raised the room to Tre Gamberi for 2026.

Trecca came second in that 2020 ranking, and the eggs are the reason. Manuel Treccastelli has the Pulicaro farm feed certain hens so the yolks come back fat enough for the sauce. Gambero Rosso printed the farm behind every part of the plate.

Roscioli Salumeria con Cucina came first in 2020, but the cook who made that plate has left. Nabil Hadj Hassen moved to Baccano. The room still bakes its own bread and buys its cured meats and cheeses at the level the shop built its name on, and MICHELIN warns that a table is hard to get without a booking.

Start at Checchino dal 1887, opposite the old slaughterhouse gate in Testaccio. Order the rigatoni con la pajata, calf intestine cooked in tomato and served with rigatoni and pecorino, which Gabriele Gervasi says Checchino makes best. Then have the coda alla vaccinara, the oxtail stew Gambero Rosso made its Campione della tradizione dish for 2024. Expect an old-fashioned formal room and a bill above the neighborhood's. It closes on Monday and Tuesday.

For a few euros, eat the same cuts in a roll at Mordi e Vai inside the Testaccio market. The Espositos were butchers before they made sandwiches. Katie Parla's three fillings are brisket and chicory, artichoke and pecorino, and kidney and onion. The market shuts after lunch and all day on Sunday.

When you want the offal cooked by a chef who thinks about it, book SantoPalato. Parla writes that you will not find more exciting twists on offal than Sarah Cicolini's.

Go to the Mercato di Testaccio in the morning, while the stalls trade. Your first stop is Mordi e Vai at box 15, where the Esposito family fill rolls with boiled beef and salsa verde, tongue and tripe. Eat standing, before the queue builds.

On the way out, walk to Trapizzino on Via Giovanni Branca, where Stefano Callegari invented the trapizzino. It is a pocket of pizza dough with a trattoria sauce inside. Daria Reina says to try at least three different fillings, and Katie Parla's order is the chicken cacciatora.

Stop at Bar Giolitti on Via Amerigo Vespucci for the zabaione. Reina takes an espresso in a small glass and I add a spoonful of zabaione (an eggnog-like cream) to sweeten it. A coffee costs under a euro, and the bar shuts on Sunday.

Come back for dinner at Da Remo on the main square, which takes no bookings. Time Out ranks it second in the city for its paper-thin round with charred edges.

Drink a glass of Lazio wine at Il Goccetto on Via dei Banchi Vecchi. The wines by the glass are chalked on a board behind the counter and change as the bottles turn over. Gabriele Gervasi orders a board of salumi and cheese with them. When the few tables fill, you drink on the street. It shuts on Sunday.

For Piedmont reds, go to Trimani il Wine Bar. Sarah Cicolini praises its incredible selection of wines from all over Italy, especially from the Langhe region. The bottles are priced off the enoteca next door.

In Garbatella, let the waiters at Enoteca La Mescita choose the bottle. Cicolini says they usually do a great job selecting one for you. Drink there and eat somewhere else: in the same part of the city, Trattoria Pennestri in Ostiense opens with the four Roman sauces and takes bookings a week out by phone.

Get a maritozzo at Pasticceria Regoli on Via dello Statuto. It is a soft bun split and filled with whipped cream. Gabriele Gervasi says the quality of the brioche and cream makes all the difference. Go early.

Take the espresso standing at Sant'Eustachio Il Caffè between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Gervasi says its South American Arabica is roasted the Italian way but is much more balanced. Ask for it amaro, without sugar, because otherwise it comes very sweet.

For specialty coffee, go to Faro on Via Piave. Sarah Cicolini calls it the best spot in Rome for coffee. Dario Fociani charges 2.50 euros for a double espresso and says that price is what makes the room work.

Romanè behind the Vatican runs straight through from midday until late. Stefano Callegari serves his carbonara at a full 130 grams of pasta, and the offal leads the menu, from fried brain to trippa alla romana.

For something in your hand, Trapizzino in Testaccio serves late. This is Callegari's other invention, a pocket of pizza dough filled with a trattoria sauce.

Then have gelato at Otaleg in Monteverde, where the counter runs late into the night. Gervasi goes because if strawberries aren't in season, there is no strawberry gelato, and Callegari's flavor there is licorice.

For a drink after that, Drink Kong in Monti stays open late. Patrick Pistolesi rebuilds the whole cocktail list around a new theme every year.