The 13 Best Food Tours and Cooking Classes in Rome (2026)

Testaccio food tours: the best first tour in Rome

Testaccio is the old working-class quarter south of the Aventine that grew up round the city slaughterhouse, and it's where Rome's offal-and-oxtail cooking comes from. It's also the easiest neighbourhood for a food tour, because the covered Testaccio Market, the trattorias and the gelaterias are all within a few streets. Eating Europe's Taste of Testaccio has run here since 2011: seven stops in 3.5 hours, with cured meats and cheeses, supplì (fried rice balls), a caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella, bruschetta, carbonara, amatriciana and cacio e pepe, and gelato, with red and white wine. Eating Europe says the menu varies by day and season and adds up to at least a full meal.

It runs every day at 10:30am and 11:15am, from €104 for adults (€94 for 13 to 17, €84 for 4 to 12, under-4s free without food), with a maximum of 12. You meet at Piazza Testaccio 39; the guide carries a purple bag. Who it suits: first-timers who want the classic Roman dishes in one go. The trade-off: it's a lunch tour only, and it's a lot of food.

Also from this square: The Roman Guy's Testaccio Small Group Food Tour starts at Piazza Testaccio too, 3.5 hours with a maximum of 12, from about US$120 to US$126 on its own site. It takes in Testaccio Market (supplì, cured meats, cheese, caprese), a make-your-own bruschetta, the three Roman pastas, Monte Testaccio and the Non-Catholic Cemetery, and finishes with gelato by the Pyramid.

WalksDevour's Testaccio Food and Market Tour is the cheaper Testaccio option and starts earlier in the meal: an espresso and a maritozzo (a cream-filled brioche bun) at a neighbourhood pasticceria, then Testaccio Market for pizza, tomatoes from a family farm, hand-cut prosciutto, ricotta, mozzarella, aged pecorino Romano and a panino, then a trattoria for oxtail and a pasta lunch with wine, and gelato made with zabaione. That's 14 tastings in 3.5 hours, with a maximum of 12.

WalksDevour shows its prices in US dollars and runs discounts that change by date: about US$80 to US$100 a person on its own site in November. You meet in Piazza di Santa Maria Liberatrice, by the war memorial nearest the church. Who it suits: anyone who wants the oxtail, Testaccio's signature dish. The trade-off: it doesn't list fixed start times, so check the calendar for your date.

Trastevere food tours: the best for an evening

Trastevere, across the river, is Rome's busiest eating neighbourhood after dark (see the Trastevere guide for the streets and sights). Eating Europe's Twilight Trastevere starts on Tiber Island and covers six stops in 4 hours: burrata with cherry tomatoes, cured meats and cheeses, a crostino with stracciatella and fried courgette, white pizza with porchetta or mortadella, supplì, amatriciana or cacio e pepe, a maritozzo and gelato, with prosecco, a spritz, wine and beer. The exact stops depend on the departure time.

It runs every day, with morning, afternoon and evening departures, from €94 for adults (€85 for 13 to 17, €75 for 4 to 12), with a maximum of 12. You meet in front of the statue in Piazza San Bartolomeo all'Isola. Who it suits: couples and friends who want drinks with dinner. The trade-off: at 4 hours, it's the longest tour here.

WalksDevour's Trastevere at Sunset Food & Wine Tour is built round an aperitivo: sparkling wine, olives, lupini beans and antipasti at a seated enoteca, supplì from a shop that's been open for more than 40 years, a spritz at Bar San Calisto, two Roman pastas (from cacio e pepe, carbonara and amatriciana) and gelato. That's more than 10 tastings and 6 drinks at five family-run places in 3.5 hours, with a maximum of 12.

It was about US$105 to US$111 after discount on WalksDevour's own site (list price up to US$141); a shorter express version starts at 6:15pm for less. You meet in front of Sicily Foodrink in Piazza di San Cosimato. Who it suits: wine drinkers. The trade-off: the price moves with the date, so compare a few evenings before you book.

Secret Food Tours' Evening Trastevere Food Tour starts at 6pm every day outside Bar Savello, on the riverside road by the Jewish Ghetto, and crosses into Trastevere: a Roman-style artichoke with burrata, fried courgette flowers stuffed with anchovy and mozzarella, porchetta, supplì, two Roman pastas, gelato and a 'Secret Dish' it keeps as a surprise, with prosecco and local wine. Five stops in 3 to 3.5 hours, maximum 12.

It's €99.99 a person, adults only; a drinks upgrade adds a spritz and beer. Who it suits: adults who want a fixed evening slot. The trade-off: it can't cater for gluten-free or vegan guests.

The Jewish Ghetto and Campo de' Fiori

Rome's Jewish quarter, between the Portico d'Ottavia and the river, has its own cooking, best known for the carciofo alla giudia, a whole artichoke fried until it opens like a flower. Eating Europe's Eternal Rome is the tour that covers it properly: six stops in 4 hours from Campo de' Fiori through the Ghetto to Trastevere, with porchetta, a caprese salad, a ricotta and sour cherry tart, the Jewish-style fried artichoke or fried salt cod fillets, amatriciana and gelato, with wine and prosecco.

It runs Monday to Saturday at 10am, 10:45am, 5pm and 5:45pm (no Sunday tours), from €109 for adults (€98 for 13 to 17, €87 for 4 to 12), with a maximum of 12. You meet next to the newspaper stand in Campo de' Fiori. Who it suits: anyone who wants history with the food. The trade-off: Eating Europe says it isn't wheelchair or stroller accessible, and it's one of the dearer tours here. To eat in the Ghetto on your own, Piperno and Nonna Betta are in the best restaurants in Rome.

A smaller-group alternative: Context Travel's Rome Food Tour starts around Campo de' Fiori and takes in the Ghetto, with maritozzo, pizza, supplì, Jewish-style artichokes, focaccia, gelato and coffee, in 3 hours with an expert guide. Its own site sells group and private versions, with the price for your date in its booking calendar; it isn't suitable for vegans or anyone gluten-intolerant.

Secret Food Tours' Campo dei Fiori tour is the cheapest tour in the centre, at €89.99 a person (under-3s free). It meets outside the Brazilian Embassy on Piazza Navona and covers six or seven stops in 3 to 3.5 hours: two kinds of pizza by the slice, supplì, a cannolo, ham, salami and cheese with wine at a gourmet shop, two Roman pastas at a traditional restaurant, gelato and the 'Secret Dish' surprise.

It runs Monday to Saturday at 11am, 11:30am and 5pm, with a maximum of 12 and about an hour of walking in total. Who it suits: a first taste of Rome on a budget, starting from Piazza Navona. The trade-off: like the evening tour, no gluten-free or vegan menu.

Prati and the Trionfale market: near the Vatican

Prati, the grid of streets next to the Vatican, is where Romans shop, and The Roman Food Tour runs two tours there from La Nicchia Cafè on Via Cipro, a minute from Cipro Metro. Both stop at Pizzarium, baker Gabriele Bonci's pizza al taglio counter, and finish at Il Segreto for fresh pasta, near Ottaviano Metro.

The Trionfale Market tour (€99, Monday to Saturday at 10:45am, about 4 hours) starts with a Roman breakfast, then pizza at Pizzarium, cheeses, cured meats, truffle products, olive oil and balsamic at gourmet shops, a walk through the covered Trionfale market with tastings such as buffalo mozzarella, porchetta and aubergine parmigiana with wine, and a sit-down pasta and tiramisù at Il Segreto: more than 20 tastings. The Prati tour (€109, daily at 3:30pm, 4:30pm, 5:30pm, 6:30pm and 7:30pm) swaps the market for an aperitivo, Paciotti's cheese and cured meats, pasta with Barolo, and gelato. Both have a maximum of 12.

Who it suits: anyone seeing the Vatican Museums the same day. The trade-off: the Trionfale market is closed on Sundays, and the market tour runs Monday to Saturday only.

Pasta-making and cooking classes

A shared pasta class in Rome usually means about three hours making fresh pasta by hand, then eating it at the table with wine. Eating Europe's Trastevere pasta class is half food tour: you meet at La Norcineria di Iacozzilli, a Trastevere butcher's, for porchetta on pizza bianca, then make fettuccine and ravioli at Trattoria Rione XIII, eat them with wine, and finish with gelato at Fatamorgana. The class also features pasta alla chitarra with amatriciana.

It runs daily at 10am and 4:30pm, from €89 for adults, €80 for 13 to 17 and €62 for 4 to 12, with a maximum of 10. There's also an adults-only evening Pasta & Prosecco class from €129. Who it suits: families, since children from 4 can join. The trade-off: you make two pasta shapes rather than the Roman classics.

WalksDevour's pasta class is the cheapest class on this page: US$56 to US$67 depending on the date on its own site, for 3 hours with a local chef in a private cooking school in Trastevere. You make fresh pasta by hand with two sauces, one red and one white, then eat it with Roman aperitivi, prosecco and wine, and there's a gelato-making demonstration with unlimited gelato. You meet in front of San Giovanni della Malva church.

Who it suits: a budget class with a fun, social feel. The trade-off: groups go up to 15, larger than the other classes here.

InRome Cooking has kitchens by Piazza Navona and the Pantheon and the widest choice of shared classes in the centre. The pasta making and tiramisù class (from €94, often discounted on its own site) runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 5:30pm, with groups of 8 to 10: a welcome prosecco and antipasto, then you cook and eat the meal with wine and soft drinks. The Roman pastas class (from €115, 1pm, 3 hours) teaches carbonara, amatriciana and cacio e pepe with a dessert; pizza and gelato (from €94) and a farmers' market morning with a full Roman meal (from €165) are the other shared options.

Who it suits: a central class after a day's sightseeing. The trade-off: you're told which of its kitchens to go to only the day before.

Italian Cooking Classes in Rome, on Piazza Margana between Piazza Venezia and the Jewish Ghetto, is the pick for the Roman sauces. Its Carbonara, Cacio e Pepe, Amatriciana class (from €89, 2 hours) has you make fresh pasta such as tonnarelli and all three sauces, then eat them. The fresh pasta and tiramisù class (from €84, about 3 hours) includes wine, soft drinks and an espresso. There's an adults-only Spritz and Spaghetti class (€89), pizza and gelato (€94), and a 4-hour Campo de' Fiori market tour and three-course class (€149, mornings, not Sundays).

All shared classes are taught in English, and children can cook from age 6 at the same price as adults. Who it suits: anyone who wants to cook carbonara at home properly. The trade-off: it says shared groups are small but bigger in high season, so ask the group size when you book.

Rome Cooking Class, in a medieval granary on Borgo Angelico, about 10 minutes' walk from St Peter's, is the cheapest sit-down class here: from €75 a person for 3 hours, with a maximum of 8. You make two pasta shapes with two Roman sauces such as amatriciana and cacio e pepe, after a welcome prosecco and antipasto, then eat the full meal with local wine, dessert, coffee and amaro, and take home a printed recipe booklet. Classes run 11:30am to 2:30pm and 6pm to 9pm on the dates in its calendar.

Who it suits: a lunch after the Vatican Museums or St Peter's. The trade-off: it's a small, owner-run school, so dates can sell out; book a few days ahead.