Eateries

Rome – the Food of Prati

On May 12, 2023 by

We go to Roma for various reasons including football and food. We never stay within the city walls as we like to live a little more like a local.

May 2023 we returned to Roma and this time we stayed in an area called Prati. This is a residential area just behind the Vatican city with a high street (Via Cola di Rienzo) full of lovely shops, a local food market, deli’s and supermarkets.

The roads that runs parallel to shopping street (Via dei Gracchi and Via Germanico) contain a host of cafes and restaurants. Rarely do you find tourists here.

One of our favourite places was L’Archetto (Via Germanico). This has an area for outside dinning at street level and downstairs is an inside restaurant.

The pizza here is simply to die for – the guy behind the counter is relentless all evening turning out pizza after pizza all looking perfect.

For the perfect pasta try the  Ai Balastari

L’Archetto
Balastarari

Guttilla
GianForno

GianForno counter

in Prati again this has inside and outside eating areas – but good news for those who want to go inside no steep steps.

I love gellatto, but I do make sure that I never over indulge when in Italy. This means over 7 days no more 2 portions. This year was no difference. However, what a difference between the 2 places. The first was cafe very close to the Vatican. I would say that they were serving mass produced gellato for the tourists. It was ok, but not something you would rush back for. In complete contast was Guttila Alta on the corner of the Via dei Gracchi and Via Fabio Massimo. It was super soft and super tasty. I totally enjoyed the Mandarin flavour. If you not one for towers of gellato you can also buy Stick Ice cream which is like a Walls Magnum, these come a range of flavours and Minuo which are smaller balls of chocolate covered ice cream. If gellato isn’t your thing at all then they also sell cakes and shakes.

My final mention is for a cafe that sells a massive selection of cakes, pasteries and savour treats. Il Gianfornaio (Via dei Gracchi), looks like it has probably been there since the 1950’s and who would be suprised as the array of food is mind blowing. We visited late afternoon and it was still full of people. Also, this is place really good English Tea if you are suffering withdrawl symptons and coffee overload.

Until we return again for the next footy season  – buon appertito