I Ate My Way Through Rome In A Day

And here's how you can, too.

Andrew Rowat / Via afar.com

Katie Parla—scholar of Italian cooking, tour guide, and cookbook author—may be the best possible person to eat with for a day. Fresh off writing her latest book, Tasting Rome, she invited me for a day of feasting, Roman style. Who would say no?

Here's exactly where — and what — we ate along the way. My advice? If you're planning to follow suit, come hungry.

10 a.m., La Fiorentina and Mercato Trionfale in the Prati neighborhood

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We meet at La Fiorentina, a 1940s bakery filled with every brilliant idea Roman bakers have ever had, from bomboloni (cream-filled donuts) to sturdy little biscotti. I'm going full Parla, so I order her usual: a doppio macchiato and a danese, an Italian Danish, both knocked back quickly at the bar. It's all to fortify us for a trip through the nearby Mercato Trionfale, one of Rome's classic farmers' markets, and somewhat of a conservation project for Katie, who shops here frequently.

As we zigzag past boxes of chicory curls and fat sardines on ice, I think it's everything you dream of an Italian market being, and yet "the markets aren't thriving," she says. "They're only open from 9 to 1, and most young people can't shop then, so I spotlight great vendors on my blog and on my tours to help lead people to their stalls."

10:45 a.m., La Tradizione, Cipro station

Katie Parla / Via afar.com

Katie introduces me to La Tradizione, one of the few authentic delis in the city. "A lot of people presume that Rome's deli counters are stocked with pristine artisanal products," she tells me. "In reality, most of what is sold at local food shops and supermarkets comes from factories. La Tradizione, however, is that mythical place people imagine."

And there's certainly some magic to the tiny space, which somehow contains 400 different cheeses, a tower of fresh pasta, salami of all stripes, and a glass case densely packed with everything from purple-black olives to fresh burrata, Katie's favorite in the city.

1 p.m., Pizzarium and Panificio Bonci, Quartier Trionfale

MAYSSAM SAMAHA / Via afar.com

We're huddled with other fanboys and girls in front of Pizzarium, Rome's most famous purveyor of pizza al taglio, the rectangular street-food pizza that Romans inhale by the pound. Dough genius Gabriele Bonci is known for using Italian heirloom wheat and allowing a long fermentation time, which creates an airy, flavorful crust.

We order his pizza con patate (potatoes with mozzarella) and a version layered with porcini and shaved pecorino, among other slices. They're pure flavor bombs, but more important, they also support an increasingly fragile local food system. "Gabriele changed a belly-filling Roman food into a much-needed connection with farmers, millers, and salami makers," Katie says.

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Next it's off to Panificio Bonci, Gabriele's bread-and-pastry outpost. It's where Romans flock daily to buy loaves of his naturally leavened bread, and where I begin to doubt my ability to consume more carbs. We order pizza con la porchetta, a sandwich of flatbread, roasted pork, and crispy pork skin, and a paper bag of ciambelline, sugar-dusted cookies to dip in wine sold by the cup.

4:55 p.m., Birra+, Pigneto neighborhood

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Thirsty, we Uber out to Pigneto, a neighborhood of artists. "This is where, when all is said and done, I go to get a beer," Katie says. There are robot murals, and graphic posters for counterculture block parties. We're the first to arrive at Birra+, a garage-like space serving a global beer list with plenty of local options. Over Italian wheat beers from craft brewery Pontino, I ask the obvious: How does she do this every day? It's a juggling act, she says, one that she manages by eating at home at least twice a week and accepting that "sometimes I just don't want gelato."

9 p.m., Pipero al Rex, not far from the Termini station

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Katie's off to interview a local chef, but not before pointing me toward Michelin-starred Pipero al Rex for dinner. I linger over anchovy-accented ravioli and a minerally white wine that smells like sunflowers before heading back home to the D.O.M. Hotel to plot my next stop in this eternally food-obsessed city.

Original article by Aislyn Greene for AFAR.

For more Rome content from AFAR, check out:

* A Perfect Day in Rome

* 11 of Rome's Best Pizza Spots

* Rome's Best Gelato

* 12 Must-Do Experiences in Rome