Rome city guide

You’ve tried all the Roman pastas, the fried artichoke, the pizza, and the fried appetizers. What’s left for you to gastronomically discover in the Eternal City? Porchetta! Originating from the nearby Roman city, Ariccia (one of the few cities right outside Rome, making up the Castelli Romani), porchetta can be found in many spots in the city. In my opinion however, the best porchetta is found at I Porchettoni, in Pigneto.

Porchetta, apart from being one of the tastiest forms of pork, is a whole pig, stuffed with its own meat, fat, herbs and spices, and then roasted to perfection. As you can imagine, this one large slab of pig greets you as soon as you walk into I Porchettoni. Apart from the porchetta itself, the eatery is not very decorated: just a few picnic tables for seating, and the simple kitchen in the back.

In addition to your portion of porchetta, ordered in bunches of 100′s of grams or in sandwich form, there are also a other sliced meats you can try, and cheeses, all very delicious. I Porchettoni offers pasta dishes as well, for those who don’t want to make a whole meal out of the porchetta (but why wouldn’t you?!).

Aside from traveling to Ariccia to get porchetta (about 30 minutes by car), I Porchettoni is your best bet in Rome. Don’t feel like sitting down? Do what I always do: pass by and order some to go!