Rome Food & Wine Tours
Rome eats better than its reputation: four pastas that belong to the city alone, a street-food tradition of supplì and pizza al taglio, a market quarter in Testaccio where the offal cooking of the old slaughterhouse never went away, and Frascati vineyards half an hour from the Colosseum. This is our Rome hub. Below are the top-rated food and wine experiences in the city, then our detailed pages: food tours by neighbourhood, cooking classes, pasta-making classes, and wine tastings in the city and out in the Castelli Romani.
Top-rated food and wine experiences in Rome
Four ways in: a food tour through Trastevere, Testaccio or the Jewish Quarter; a cooking class; a pasta class for the fettuccine you’ll make at home; a wine tasting in the centre or a Frascati day out.
What to eat: supplì, pizza al taglio and pizza bianca, carciofi alla giudia in the Ghetto, coda alla vaccinara in Testaccio, maritozzi for breakfast, gelato that is churned in the back.
Where: Testaccio for the market and the trattorie, Trastevere for the evening, the Jewish Quarter for artichokes and bakeries, Prati for the Trionfale market near the Vatican.
Food and wine in Rome: how the city eats
Roman cooking is cucina povera with attitude: pasta dressed with pecorino, black pepper and guanciale in four canonical ways; the quinto quarto, the “fifth quarter” of offal, from the days when the Testaccio slaughterhouse paid its workers in tails and tripe; artichokes fried whole in the Jewish Quarter; and a street-food habit built on rice balls and rectangles of pizza sold by weight. It is eaten in trattorie, at market counters and standing at bakery windows, and it is easy to miss entirely if you stay within sight of the Pantheon.
Food tours
Three to four hours, eight to ten tastings, one neighbourhood: Trastevere in the evening, Testaccio’s market in the morning, the Jewish Quarter and Campo de’ Fiori by day. The best first-day investment in the city. See Rome food tours.
Cooking classes and pasta classes
Rome has almost as many cooking schools as Florence, and they specialise: fresh pasta and tiramisù in three hours, market-to-table classes that start at Campo de’ Fiori or Testaccio, pizza classes, and private lessons in Roman homes. Pasta is the most searched and the most useful. See Rome cooking classes and pasta making classes in Rome.
Wine: in the city and in the Castelli
Rome is not a wine city the way Florence is, but it has good enoteche and sommelier-led tastings of wines from all twenty regions, and the Castelli Romani hills with Frascati’s vineyards are 30 minutes away. See Rome wine tastings and tours.
Neighbourhoods
Testaccio for the market and the trattorie that cook the fifth quarter; Trastevere for evening walks and wine bars; the Jewish Quarter for carciofi and the kosher bakery; Prati for the Trionfale market ten minutes from the Vatican; Monti for aperitivo. The Pantheon and Piazza Navona are for looking.
When to come
Spring and autumn for weather and open kitchens; February to May for artichoke season; avoid mid-August, when many trattorie close for Ferragosto. Winter is quiet and good for cooking classes. Naples is 70 minutes away by fast train: see Naples food and wine tours.
Read next: Rome & the Castelli Romani in 4 days
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.
FAQ about Rome Food & Wine Tours
Frequently asked questions
Why Rome for food?
Because the cooking is specific: cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana and gricia are Roman, not Italian, and the best way to understand the city is to eat them where they were invented.
What food is Rome known for?
Cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana and gricia; supplì, pizza al taglio and pizza bianca; carciofi alla giudia; coda alla vaccinara and other fifth-quarter dishes; maritozzi and gelato.
Which neighbourhood is best for a food tour in Rome?
Trastevere for an evening with wine, Testaccio for the market and the most Roman cooking, the Jewish Quarter for artichokes and history.
Food tour or cooking class first?
The tour first to learn the city, the class later to take a dish home.
Can I do a wine tour from Rome?
Yes: Frascati and the Castelli Romani are 30 minutes away, and half-day tours run daily. In the city, sommelier tastings cover all of Italy in two hours.
Do I need to book in advance?
Yes in spring and autumn, one to two weeks ahead for the best small-group tours and classes.