Rome Cheap Eat: “Pizza al Taglio” shops

Care for a slice of pizza al taglio? Photo: Daniele Muscetta

It’s lunchtime in Rome and you’re on the hunt for a quick bite on a budget. Where to turn? When I have friends in town and I feel like taking them for a fast and simple lunch, I take them straight to a “pizza al taglio” (pizza by the slice) shop.

Lunch by the slice

Simply put, pizza al taglio is thin crusted pizza baked in large rectangular trays. The best part about the pizza is that you’re free to decide how big or small a piece you’d like to take away with you. The pizza then gets cut (sometimes even with scissors), weighed, and then re-heated in the oven and handed off to the customer.

Pick a pizza. Photo: Stijn

The cost of the pizza depends on the toppings you choose and the weight of the pizza. But it usually only costs a few euros. Common flavors include: pizza margherita (cheese pizza with tomato sauce), pizza bianca (just plain white pizza bread topped with olive oil and salt), pizza con patate (pizza topped with pieces of roasted potatoes), and pizza con würstel (pizza with cheese and sliced hot dogs).

Other toppings include: prosciutto (ham), melanzane (eggplant), alici (anchovies), zucchine (zucchini), salame (pepperoni), and carciofi (artichokes). For a late afternoon snack, you may decide all you want is a striscetta (a strip of pizza).

Needless to say, these pizza al taglio shops are a dime a dozen in Rome, but that doesn’t mean all of them are good. Here are some of my favorite:

Near the Pantheon: Da Remo’s

In the Centro Storico close to the Pantheon, Da Remo’s pizza al taglio does it up nice. His pizza has been attracting crowds since 1970 when he first opened up shop. He truly offers a slice of old Rome. If you pop by around 1 p.m., it’s not unusual to find a line full of teens from a nearby high school yelling, “Give me €2 worth of pizza margherita” inside the tiny pizza shop. The pizza is just that good.

Some of Remo’s specialties are capricciosa (pizza with cheese, egg, ham, olive and artichokes), salame (pepperoni), and pomodori con rucola (cheese with tomatoes and arugula). In the fall and winter when it’s in season, Remo (the pizza butcher) makes a nice pizza with zucca (pumpkin).

Da Remo
Via Piè di Marmo, 32
Open daily for lunch. Closed on Sundays
Cost: €2-€4 a slice (depending on the size and toppings)
Tip: Head to Remo’s before 1 p.m., before the school crowd gets there.

Zucchero Farina

Just a bit further away from the Pantheon, near Via Giulia heading toward the Vatican area, is another great pizza shop called Zucchero Farina (Sugar Flour). This place serves up a wide selection of pizzas with all sorts of unusual but good toppings: broccoli with sausage, asparagus with ham, chard with tomatoes. All of them are yummy. And for €2,50, they’ll make you a sandwich right on the spot using some of their white pizza bread straight out of the oven.

Zucchero Farina
Via dei Banchi Vecchi, 105
Open daily for lunch. Closed on Sundays
Cost: €3-€5 a slice (depending on the size and toppings)
Tip: Top off your pizza with one of their pastries, which are to die for!