Four days of eating gluten-free in Rome
My wife and I have always wanted to go to Italy, but it moved to the top of our list once we realized how good they are at accommodating celiac disease. This was our first time in Rome, so we wanted to do a more touristy trip than we normally would and knock out the big sights: the Colosseum, the Vatican, St. Peter's. We flew in from Atlanta in the middle of May and had four days in the city before taking the train up to Florence.
I knew Italy had a lot of gluten-free options, but I could not believe how many there were, or how knowledgeable everyone was about it. It felt like we could actually be spontaneous, walk down a street and find a place my wife could eat, which is a massive difference from what we are used to at home. Atlanta has options, but you have to plan around them ahead of time. It was a fun surprise to have people in Italy look at us crazy when we asked if there would be cross-contamination. Made me feel a little stupid, but hey, we are scarred from past traumas! 😂
One thing worth knowing before you go, because it shaped almost every meal we ate: AIC certification. The Associazione Italiana Celiachia trains and certifies restaurants on preparing gluten-free food, and certified places are held to standards on how they handle it. Every place below except the McDonald's was certified, and you can usually spot it on the menu or in the window. Usually you have to plan all your meals on trips in detail, but the AIC logo being displayed by a restaurant should make being spontaneous and trying new places much easier!
Where we ate
Day 1 · First dinner
Cimarra 4 Pizzeria & Cocktail Bar
- Takes reservations
- English menu
A casual spot in Monti that is not overly fancy, which made it a great place to start the trip after a long travel day from Atlanta. The staff was incredibly friendly and the owner was very welcoming.
Their menu says gluten-free pizzas come out on a white plate with their own flag on top for an extra euro, and ours did. They are not a fully dedicated gluten-free kitchen, but like most places in Italy that serve gluten-free food, they have a separate kitchen and they know what they are doing. The place has a ton of character, as the walls are covered in messages from people who ate there before. Many of which shout out the gluten-free food!
What we ordered: The Roman Pepperoni pizza (€13.50) · Cacio e pepe (€11, tortiglioni) · Plain focaccia (€6)
See the review signals for Cimarra 4 Pizzeria & Cocktail Bar →
Day 2 · Lunch, after the Colosseum
Pasta in Corso Monti-Colosseo
- English menu
We went here straight after touring the Colosseum, which worked out perfectly because it had started raining and it gave us a second to escape the rain and rest our legs.
I would recommend it for lunch if you need a place to pop in. There are several Pasta in Corso locations around Rome, but this one was perfect for us to enjoy after our tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.
What we ordered: Spaghetti alla carbonara (€14.50) · Gnocchi alla sorrentina (€14.50)
See the review signals for Pasta in Corso Monti-Colosseo →
Day 2 · Gelato
Grom
Grom is 100% gluten-free, and they even have gluten-free waffle cones, which is not something my wife gets to have at home. There are locations all over Rome so it is very easy to work one into wherever you already are. We went to the Piazza Navona one and the one near Termini.
It can get crowded, but it is worth the wait, especially when it is hot.
What we ordered: Stracciatella, two scoops, waffle cone · Grom Cream and stracciatella, waffle cone
Day 2 · Dinner
Pizza in Trevi
- Takes reservations
- English menu
A very large gluten-free menu, right by the Trevi Fountain. We ate here the day after doing the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and exploring that whole area for a while, so it is an easy one to fold into a day of walking around the centre.
The AIC logo is printed right on the placemat, which tells you how seriously they take it before anyone comes to the table.
What we ordered: Margherita (red base, cow's milk mozzarella) · Fettuccine with fresh tomato (buffalo burrata and basil pesto)
Day 3 · Dinner, and our favorite meal in Rome
Mama Eat Roma
- Takes reservations
- English menu
Possibly our favorite meal in Rome. The pizza and the pasta were so good. They are AIC certified with a detailed menu explaining how they handle allergens, and a separate kitchen for gluten-free food.
Trastevere is a very cool neighborhood with plenty of places to grab drinks nearby. If you go in the evening, there is a plaza near here where they play live music and big crowds gather. I highly recommend walking over and checking it out, it is a super cool experience.
Note that there is more than one Mama Eat in Rome. This is the Trastevere one, on Via di S. Cosimato.
What we ordered: Margherita (fiordilatte, grana padano, basil) · Amatriciana (rigatoni, crispy guanciale, pecorino)
Day 4 · Lunch, by the Vatican
La Soffitta Renovatio
- English menu
- Indoor and outdoor seating
The supplì are the thing to notice here. A fried rice ball, gluten-free, means they are frying it somewhere that will not wreck it, and that is not something you get to order casually in the US.
The food was solid. It was not our favorite meal in Italy, but there were fewer options to pick from near the Vatican and for that it was great, and still much better than most gluten-free food we get at home. Service can be a little slow, though that was fine for us since we had time to kill. Plenty of seating indoors and some outdoors, and it is close to a lot of what you would be seeing that day anyway.
What we ordered: Supplì, two (€3.50 each, fried rice balls with ragù and mozzarella) · Insalata mista (€8) · Diavola pizza (€14, tomato, mozzarella, spicy salami)
Day 4 · Breakfast
New Food Gluten Free - Ponte Sisto
- English menu
Fully gluten-free, which means you can walk in and point at anything in the case. That is a rarer feeling than it sounds.
I would recommend it for breakfast or lunch if you need a place to pop in, and it is great for stocking up on gluten-free things to take back to where you are staying.
What we ordered: An assortment of pastries (the ciambella, which is the donut, was the standout)
See the review signals for New Food Gluten Free - Ponte Sisto →
Day 4 · Last dinner in Rome
Mercato Hostaria Roma
- English menu
- Outdoor seating
This one is in a really cool plaza right by Campo de' Fiori. They have great outdoor seating, and I highly recommend it for dinner on an evening with nice weather. Very large gluten-free menu.
The detail I liked most: the gluten-free dishes come out on their own plates with "Gluten Free" printed around the rim. It means the kitchen is tracking the plate and not just the order, and you can see it without asking anybody.
What we ordered: Margherita al prosciutto · Lasagna al ragù bolognese
McDonald's, Piazza delle Cinque Lune
People from the United States will have a different perspective on McDonald's here. A lot of people in Italy told us they do not like it because there is only one gluten-free option, which is not sufficient, and I agree with them. But in the US our McDonald's have zero gluten-free options, and even the fries are cooked in a shared fryer. Here you get a burger on a Schär bun that arrives sealed, in its own box marked gluten-free, and the fries are gluten-free too.
My wife absolutely loved McDonald's in her past life, so this was a really special treat for her. It is not the reason to come to Rome. It is just a thing she has not been able to do in years.
The ones we ran out of days for
Four days is about eight meals, so this is not a list of places that did not make the cut. There was simply no room left. Honestly, there are so many options for good and carefully prepared gluten-free food in Rome that there is no way you leave without wishing you had gotten to try more. All the reason to go back.
These are where we would start next time. Most of them are a short walk from somewhere we did eat, and several are named by other celiac travelers as some of the best in the city.
- Via di Porta Cavalleggeri, 151/153A short walk from La Soffitta, by St Peter'sAnalyzed from 10 Google reviews
- V. della Vetrina, 12a/bNear Piazza Navona, the whole menu is rice-basedAnalyzed from 10 Google reviews
- Via dei Giubbonari, 33A block from Mercato Hostaria, on Campo de' FioriAnalyzed from 10 Google reviews
- Pantha Rei8.0Via della Minerva, 19Right beside the PantheonAnalyzed from 10 Google reviews
- Via di S. Vincenzo, 31Next door to Pizza in Trevi, at number 31Analyzed from 10 Google reviews
- Via del Pantheon, 51At the Pantheon, dedicated gluten-free gelatoAnalyzed from 10 Google reviews
- Via Tolemaide, 16Venezuelan, in Prati near the VaticanAnalyzed from 20 Google reviews
- Via Varese, 43Dedicated pasticceria, minutes from TerminiAnalyzed from 10 Google reviews
What I would tell you before you go
Make reservations for as many meals as you can. Places get crowded, and you do not want to show up somewhere expecting to eat and then get let down by a long wait.
Plan your restaurants around your days, not your days around your restaurants. On most trips it is the other way around. In Rome you can pick what you want to see and there will be good options near it, which is a genuinely different way to travel when someone in your group is celiac.
If you are being spontaneous, look for AIC certification. It means the restaurant has been taught how to prepare gluten-free food the right way, and they are required to uphold certain standards.
Meals run long by American standards, and you may have to hunt your waiter down for the check (classic Americans!). This is just a cultural thing, as meals are meant to be enjoyed here rather than tables being turned over as fast as possible. If you can, lean into it, and have a post-meal espresso, enjoy people-watching, or just take in a nearby piazza.
We post what we eat on TikTok as we travel, including the photos from this trip. If you want to see where we eat next, follow along at @zslims5.
Planning your own trip? Save all of these to a list on WiseBites and take the whole guide with you, with the review signals attached.