Retrobottega Rome

Retrobottega sits on Via del Velabro in the historic core of Rome. The restaurant holds the number 21 spot on the 50 Top Italy list for cucina d'autore, signaling its standing in a city where traditional recipes often dictate the culinary agenda.

While many of its contemporaries rely on the heavy, familiar tropes of Roman trattorias, Retrobottega leans into a contemporary and creative approach to Italian cooking. The room runs smart and elegant, but it purposefully avoids the stuffy, velvet-draped rigidity found in the dining rooms surrounding the nearby Monti neighborhood. It is a more focused experience than the sprawl of the typical tourist-heavy menus found within a twenty-minute walk of the Roman Forum. You choose this place if you want to see how the city's ingredients survive when stripped of their classic expectations.