The Best Pizza in Rome

Hiding behind the fruit and vegetable stalls that populate Campo dei Fiori is a bustling little shop that sells incredible breakfast pizzas. After watching Mark Bittman and Mario Batali go there on the television show, Best Recipes In The World With Mark Bittman of The New York Times, I knew I had to go. I ate pizza several times in Rome but nothing else compared to what came out of the long, multi-shelved ovens at Il Forno di Campo dei Fiori.

The pizzas are not round, but long ovals, that are about four feet long. Ordering is a bit daunting because you have to specify how much of each pizza you want and the guys wielding the pizza wheels are kind-of like Italy versions of the Soup Nazi. They are super fast and super not amused by incredibly poor Italian. I found it was easiest to use two hands to indicate to how many inches, oh excuse me, centimeters of pizza I wanted. They then cut the pizza, wrapped it in wax paper, folded it in half and stuffed it into a brown bag in what looked like one motion. There are no tables or chairs, you are expected to pay and hit the piazza.

Both times I went, there were between six and eight pizza options. The most popular have to be the white pizza, which has no cheese, just olive oil, salt and rosemary, and the margherita that has cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil. There was a white pizza with thinly sliced potatoes layered on top that was carbo-licious and a truly Roman option that had zucchini flowers and anchovies beautifully decorating it.

And when I said these are breakfast pizzas, I meant these pizzas are meant to be consumed before noon. I know this because the shop is only open from 8am to 12pm. I learned this after a disappointing attempt at an afternoon pizza snack. So, when in Rome, deal with the jet-lag, get up, skip the crappy breakfast offered at your hotel, get to the piazza Campo dei Fiori, breeze through all the amazing produce, fish, meat and flowers to work up an appetite, and get a couple centimeters of pizza that will change your definition of pizza for breakfast forever.

Check out Mark Bittman’s blog about these pizzas!