How Romans Actually Eat Lunch: A Street Food Walk

Roman street food is not a tourist category. It is how students and office workers have eaten in the middle of the day for generations: something proper, standing up or walking, without losing an hour to a menu and a waiter. The counters that do it well have been doing it for decades and have queues at one o'clock. This walk goes to them. Pizza by the slice, cut with scissors and sold by weight. Supplì. Fried courgette flowers, filled with mozzarella and anchovy, which are the best thing in a Roman fry shop and almost never make it onto tourist itineraries. Pastries. The route starts in Campo de' Fiori under Giordano Bruno. On morning departures the market is still up, and the first tastings happen between the stalls, which is not possible in the afternoon. From there it goes through the Passetto del Biscione, into the Ghetto for the history of the quarter that Paul IV created in 1555 and one of the Roman Jewish dishes that came out of it, past the Portico d'Ottavia, and ends with artisanal gelato at Largo Argentina, above the spot where Caesar was killed. It works well as a first walk in the centre, because you finish it knowing where to come back and eat.