Food Tours · Tour

From Giordano Bruno's Statue to a World-Champion Gelato

Fifteen tastings across five venues, with priority entry at each, walking from Piazza Farnese through Campo de' Fiori and the Jewish Ghetto into Trastevere. Twelve people. Campo de' Fiori holds a market in the mornings and the statue of Giordano Bruno, burned on that spot in 1600, and the guide uses him to explain how the Inquisition shaped what Romans ate and when. Around the square you meet the Ruggeri family at their old grocery, and a norcineria trading since 1890 where guanciale, salami and prosciutto hang above your head. Guanciale matters: it is cured pig cheek, fattier and more perfumed than pancetta, and swapping it out is what ruins most carbonara made outside Rome. The route slips through the Passetto del Biscione, a covered lane most people walk past, to the oldest bakery in the city for Roman pizza, thin and blistered and sold by weight. In the Ghetto, where Jewish families were confined from 1555 until 1870 and where a distinct Roman-Jewish kitchen developed in the meantime, you stop by the Portico d'Ottavia for the fried specialities. The carciofo alla giudia is the emblem: a whole artichoke pressed open and deep-fried twice so the outer leaves shatter and the heart stays soft. You pass the Great Synagogue and cross the Ponte Fabricio, built in 62 BC and the oldest bridge in Rome still in original use, onto Tiber Island and over into Trastevere. There is a pasta stop with wine, and a cacio e pepe with an appetiser in a room lined with bottles. The finish is gelato from a maker who took the world championship gold in 2020. English-speaking guide, and a restaurant guidebook and cookbook go home with you. The two-hour street-food version leaves out the Ghetto, the fried artichoke, the pasta and the wine. The market is not part of afternoon departures or Sunday mornings. Vegetarian and dairy-free with notice; vegans and coeliacs should ask about a private version. Guests with nut, legume or soy allergies cannot take part.