Kids love it. And you can never go wrong with pizza. Experts assert that the best pizzas are those crafted in the 200-degree dome cupolas of wood-fired ovens, employing well-leavened dough made with top quality ingredients and possibly water hailing from Naples. But that may be asking too much, especially if you’re not planning to visit Napoli with the toddlers in tow. Some of the best pizzas on the planet are indeed baked in the city of Naples, but a close match for equally tasty pies can be found in Rome. Where? Here is a list of child-friendly places for some of the best pizzas in Rome.
Excellent pizzas like the ones you’d find in Napoli’s famed Via dei Tribunali, droolworthy supplì and gourmet potato croquettes are pizzeria Dai Lazzaroni‘s thing. A spacious well-lit room in the Appio-Latino/Cinecittà area, whose pizza dough rears a delicious crisp base which softens as bites reach the thick, fluffy and well-aired rim. High quality ingredients, English speaking personell and a chalkboard menù with colored daily specials complete the scene. ~ Via T. Fortifiocca 68-70 - Phone: +39 06 7811772
One of the city’s best places to find excellent Napoli-style pizzas is pizzeria La Gatta Mangiona, in Monteverde, where the dough for the base is made with organic flous, natural starters and left to rise a minimum of 72 hours. This makes them light on the digestive system and tasty on the lips. La Gatta Mangiona is known for its gourmet pies, like the bizarre yet very tasty “fumo verde” added with smoked bufala, sauteed zucchini and smoked speck; or the Scottish, made with potatoes, Scottish salmon, pistachios and scallion; or the unique “Gallurese,” topped with tomato, Fiordilatte cheese, spicy pepperoni, Greek olives and aged Pecorino. ~ Via Federico Ozanam, 30 - Phone: +39 06 5346702
Same goes for co-owned pizzeria Sforno in the Tuscolano neighborhood, whose gourmet pie listing includes a “Cacio e Pepe pizza” which like the pasta dish is topped with pecorino a cracked black pepper; there’s also the “Greenwich pizza” that comes topped with Blue Stilton cheese and a sweet Port wine reduction. Grownups may enjoy the “Testarossa” made with soppressata (sausage made primarily from leftover pork cuttings–cartilage, snippets of meat, and so on), mozzarella flavored with Campari and potatoes; or the pizza “Iblea” that comes garnished with sweet bell peppers, and aged Sicilian Ragusano cheese. ~ Via Statilio Ottato, 114 - Phone: +39 06 71546118
Another great expression of traditional Neapolitan pizza-making in Rome can be experienced at pizzeria Tonda, in Montesacro. The dome shaped and wood-fired oven is hand crafted by master pizza oven-maker Stefano Ferrara, a name whose fame has traveled across borders. ~ Via Valle Corteno 31 - Phone: +39 06 8180960
The name is a guarantee in itself: 96 hours. This is how long the pizza dough is left to rise after careful kneading and before a quick pop in a wood-fired oven. Top quality ingredients and toppings make pizzeria 96 Ore near the Vatican and Castel Sant’Angelo, a go-to for well loved Napoli-style pies. Pre-dinner musts include fried veggies, rice balls, croquettes, stuffed olives, zucchini blossoms, which come served in a paper cone called “cuoppo” of which kids are huge fans. ~ Via della Giuliana 31 - Phone: +39 06 39726218
In the Parioli neighborhood, great pizzas can be found in the child-friendly pizzeria La Pariolina, where patrons are welcomed by heaps of homemade chips and coloring books, before orders are placed. Besides the excellent pizzas, the menu offers delicious daily specials, pasta dishes, meat and poultry (don’t miss the grilled chicken steak!) and assorted delicacies, like burrata with semi-dried tomatoes, cod and potato croquettes and all manner of craft beers and natural wines for mom and dad. ~ Viale dei Parioli, 93 – Phone: +39 06 8086002
Looking for a place that serves quick pizzas at lunch, on your way to visiting the Explora Museum, the mighty Colosseum, or the Cinema dei Piccoli? Here’s a place for you. No seating here, you nudge your way to the front of the counter and are dazzled with the variety of choices, to be eaten at small shelves, or outside, leaning on someone’s vespa. Gianni and his well-oiled team of bakers shell out pinsa (an oval shaped medium sized pizza) with expert timing to satifsy the long snaking line that crowds lunch hour at pizzeria Pinsere, near Termini. Toppings vary according to season, but there’s always a wide selection of vegetarian options, soups in winter and all manner of salads, couscous and pasta salads year round. ~ Via Flavia 98 - Phone: +39 06 42020924
If you still don’t know about Trapizzini you might want to remedy that, asap. Head over to pizzeria 00110 in Testaccio and prepare for family ecstasy. Trapizzini are triangular pockets of baked pizza dough, which come stuffed with cucina Romana specialties, like braised oxtail, meatballs with tomato sauce, chicken cacciatore or with bell peppers, cuttlefish & peas, “picchiapò” (boiled meat which is slowly braised with herbs and tomato), or even tripe, tongue with green sauce, “garofolato” (meat sauce with cloves), “coratella” (lamb offal) with artichokes. There’s also pizzas sold by the slice, and a handsome selection of gourmet supplì (rice balls), my 7 year-old and I personally favor the Frascati & Porchetta, or the saffron ones studded with prawns, mint and butternut squash, or the wildly tasty Amatriciana supplì. A definite must. ~ Via Giovanni Branca 88 - Phone: +39 06 43419624
