Best Restaurants
Near the Colosseum

If you could only choose one restaurant within walking distance of the Colosseum, Li Rioni would be a serious contender for the top spot. Located on Via dei Santi Quattro Coronati — a quiet medieval street barely three minutes from the Colosseum — it is the neighbourhood's most beloved institution, and the place our guests mention most often when they return from dinner glowing.

The name honours Rome's 22 historic rioni (districts), and the restaurant wears that civic pride on its sleeve. The pizza is Roman-style: thin, crisp, with a satisfying crunch and toppings that are simple, seasonal, and never overdone. But Li Rioni is much more than pizza — the pasta dishes are impeccable, the supplì al telefono are some of the finest in the city, and the tiramisu is made in-house every morning. On warm evenings, the outdoor tables fill with a perfect mix of locals and in-the-know visitors who've done their homework.

There is exactly one Michelin-starred restaurant in Rome where you can eat with the Colosseum illuminated directly outside your window. Aroma, set on the rooftop terrace of the Palazzo Manfredi hotel, occupies one of the most extraordinary restaurant positions on earth — and the food, under Executive Chef Giuseppe Di Iorio, is absolutely worthy of it.

This is contemporary Roman cuisine at its most refined: the classics reimagined with precision, seasonal ingredients from carefully chosen producers, and a wine list that reads like a love letter to Italian viticulture. The tasting menu changes with the seasons and tells a coherent, intelligent story about Roman food and its history. For a special occasion dinner in Rome, it is simply unmatched.

Tucked into a courtyard just off the Via Claudia in the heart of the Celio, Taverna dei Quaranta is the kind of place that feels like a genuine discovery — even though it's been feeding the neighbourhood for decades. The décor is rustic and unpretentious, the menu is a love letter to traditional Roman cooking, and the clientele is overwhelmingly local. It is exactly what you hope to find when you wander off the main tourist circuit.

The pasta is made in-house, the vegetables are sourced from the nearby markets, and the house wine arrives in an unlabelled carafe that tastes far better than it has any right to. In spring, the courtyard fills with the scent of wisteria, and dinner here becomes one of those Roman evenings you'll describe to friends for years.

Not every evening near the Colosseum needs to be a sit-down Roman feast. Sometimes what you want is a glass of something excellent, a plate of well-chosen charcuterie, and a warm, unhurried atmosphere in which to decompress after a day among ancient ruins. Café Café has been providing exactly this to the Celio neighbourhood for years.

The wine list is thoughtfully assembled, with a particular focus on small Italian producers and natural wines that you won't easily find elsewhere. The food — bruschette, salumi, formaggi, and a handful of hot dishes — is carefully sourced and beautifully presented. The low lighting, mismatched furniture, and genuine warmth of the staff make it feel like a friend's sitting room rather than a commercial establishment. It's one of the best spots in the neighbourhood for a quiet dinner for two.

Family-run for three generations, Hostaria Isidoro is the kind of restaurant that anchors a neighbourhood. The Isidoro family has been feeding the Celio hill since the 1950s — through Rome's postwar reconstruction, the tourist boom, and every shift in the city's fortunes — and the kitchen hasn't changed its philosophy once. What's on the plate today is what was on the plate in 1955: honest, seasonal, deeply Roman.

The menu follows the cucina povera tradition: simple ingredients, long preparations, bold flavours. The coda alla vaccinara (braised oxtail in tomato, celery, and cocoa) is one of the finest versions in Rome, slow-cooked for hours until it falls apart at the touch of a fork. The carciofi alla romana, in spring, are simply extraordinary.

Rome's restaurant scene has evolved considerably over the past decade, and the area around the Colosseum has not been left behind. Il Matriciano al Colosseo represents the best of the new generation: a restaurant that takes Roman cooking seriously but wears its knowledge lightly, offering a relaxed, informal environment without sacrificing quality or rigour in the kitchen.

The menu is a thoughtful dialogue between traditional Roman recipes and modern technique. The pastas are made fresh daily and cooked with precision. The meat dishes draw on the cucina romana tradition but with cleaner, more contemporary plating. The wine list is short but intelligently chosen. It's the kind of place that works equally well for a quick lunch after the Colosseum and a long, leisurely dinner.

A 12-minute walk from the Colosseum through the charming streets of Rione Monti, Trattoria Monti is the kind of restaurant that justifies the walk ten times over. Run by the Camerucci family from the Marche region for three generations, it offers a menu that beautifully bridges central Italian mountain cooking with the Roman classics — producing a dining experience that feels genuinely distinctive.

The tortino di ricotta — a warm, runny ricotta tart that has been on the menu for thirty years — is one of the great Roman desserts. The vincisgrassi, a layered pasta bake from Le Marche, is a revelation for those who've never encountered it. Book well in advance: this restaurant fills up weeks ahead and deserves every bit of its reputation.

Not every entry in a restaurant guide has to be a sit-down meal. Sometimes the most important thing to eat in Rome is a gelato — and the gelato at Il Gelato di Claudio Torcè is, in our view, among the finest in the entire city. Claudio Torcè is one of Italy's most respected gelatieri, and his approach — seasonal fruit, traditional techniques, no artificial colours or stabilisers — produces flavours of extraordinary intensity and purity.

The pistachio is made with Bronte pistachios from Sicily. The fig is made only when figs are in season, which in spring means you'll find it in late April. The nocciola (hazelnut) is prepared with Piedmontese hazelnuts and tastes like the Platonic ideal of the flavour. A visit here after the Colosseum, before the afternoon heat builds, is one of the great simple pleasures of Rome.

Roman cuisine is often discussed in terms of its famous pasta and meat dishes — but Rome is also a city with a serious seafood tradition, drawing on the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian fishing fleets that have supplied the city's markets for millennia. Ristorante Vincenzo all'Arco is one of the area's finest exponents of this tradition: a elegant, warmly lit restaurant where the fish arrives fresh each morning and the kitchen treats it with the respect it deserves.

The fritto misto di mare — lightly battered, perfectly fried mixed seafood — is as good as you'll find in the city. The raw preparations, when the quality justifies it, are exceptional. And the pasta alle vongole is made with clams that actually taste of the sea. For visitors who want a break from Roman meat and pasta cooking, this is the obvious and excellent choice.

Twenty minutes on foot from the Colosseum — through the ancient Aventine hill and down into the working-class neighbourhood of Testaccio — sits Felice a Testaccio, a restaurant that has been in the same family since 1936 and has never needed to change a thing. The tonnarelli cacio e pepe here is widely regarded as the finest in Rome — which is to say, quite possibly the finest in the world.

The waiter finishes it tableside, tossing the pasta in a cloud of aged pecorino and freshly cracked black pepper until the sauce reaches a perfect, silky consistency. It is simultaneously simple and technically demanding, and watching it prepared is as much a part of the experience as eating it. This is culinary theatre and it is Roman history, and the walk from the Colosseum through the quiet streets of the Aventine makes the arrival all the more satisfying.