If you\u2019re in Rome for a long time, we\u2019d highly recommend making yourself a market dinner one night. But if you\u2019re only here for a short while, you can still take advantage of Rome\u2019s bounty of traditional products. At any of the markets mentioned above, you\u2019ll find stalls selling cheese, pasta, oil and dozens of other delights. Here, we\u2019ve also made you a list of the best food shops in Rome where you can stock up.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Perishable stuff like vegetables, mozzarella and steak isn\u2019t worth it\u2014customs is too tricky, and they won\u2019t survive the journey. Pecorino, dried chilies and wine, though? Those are the Italian foods to buy at these fantastic shops.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The name tells you everything you need to know. At this Trastevere institution, you can find wonderful cured meats, dried pasta and even baccala <\/em>(salt cod). But this is Rome, where cacio<\/em> refers to the king of cheeses: Pecorino Romano DOP<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Walking into Antica Caciara (Via San Francesco a Ripa, 140<\/span><\/span>)<\/em>, you are almost knocked over by the aroma of wheels of sharp, sheepy pecorino. This is the real stuff, produced on small farms outside of Rome as it has been for thousands of years. Roberto, the proprietor, has dedicated his life to procuring, storing and selling Rome\u2019s most beloved cheese. He\u2019ll gladly shrink-wrap a big hunk of it for you to take home, and maybe throw in a wild-boar salame <\/em>in.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n SEE ALSO<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em>A Crash Course in Italian Cheeses<\/em><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Pecorino needs wine, and right across the Viale Trastevere from Antica Caciara is Bernabei<\/a>. One of the most prominent wine merchants and best food shops in Rome, Bernabei has several locations around Rome (most notably Testaccio) as well as an extensive online store.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Bernabei combines quality, variety and affordability. The store is divided by region of Italy. Want to try an Emilian Lambrusco? A real Venetian Prosecco<\/a>? Or maybe a classic Roman Frascati? It\u2019s all there, and can even be shipped.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n No one who walks by Volpetti<\/a> can resist going in. The window is like a Renaissance still life, where hanging prosciutti<\/em> cast a shadow on piles of peppercorn-studded cheeses the color of hay.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Volpetti, located in Testaccio, is perhaps the city’s most famous food store, and easily one of the best food shops in Rome. Its shelves and fridges are vast, full of everything from made-that-morning burrata<\/em> to dried pasta in a dozen shapes. We\u2019d recommend getting the thing which was designed to survive a long voyage: cured meat. In particular, the individual salami<\/em> made of cinta senese<\/a><\/em> pork, an ancient Tuscan breed prized for the incredible flavor of its fat. One of those, shrink-wrapped by the helpful staff, will be a hit for the dinner party you throw when you get home.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Cheese, wine and cured meat are the obvious choices of stuff to bring home, and for good reason. But what about beans?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Legumes are fundamental to Italian cuisine, and the peninsula produces some of the world\u2019s best. At this little store (Via di S. Maria del Pianto, 19\/20<\/em>) near the Ghetto, you\u2019ll find package after package of chickpeas, lentils, white beans, cranberry beans and other varieties you\u2019ve probably never heard of. They\u2019ll keep almost indefinitely in your pantry, and we assure you, they\u2019re of much higher quality than what you\u2019ll find in an American supermarket. Another can\u2019t-miss: local marmalades and honey.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Most of the Roman pastry shop is non-portable. A warm cornetto<\/em> or boozy rum baba<\/em> has to be enjoyed in-situ.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Cookies are different. At Innocenti<\/a>, in the picturesque Via della Luce in Trastevere, you can and should get a box of cookies to bring home. These are not the giant, gooey disks of an American bakery. Here, the cookies are small and refined. Buttery shortbreads are dotted with jam or dipped in chocolate. Classic biscotti are rich with almonds and grains of sugar. Kept in a jar, these treats will last for weeks. That is, unless you eat them all the day you get back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A kosher butcher doesn\u2019t seem like an obvious place to go food shopping in Rome, but we\u2019re not sending you to this south Trastevere spot to pick up a shabbat chicken. Over the last millennium, Rome\u2019s historic Jewish population has developed an Italian cuisine<\/a> of its own, which means kosher cured meat.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"If](\"https:\/\/assets.devourtours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/best-food-shops-Rome-1.png\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n1. Antica Caciara<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
![\"This](\"https:\/\/assets.devourtours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/paris-market-guide-cheese.jpg\")
\r\n2. Bernabei\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
3. Volpetti\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
![\"Cured](\"https:\/\/assets.devourtours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Best-food-shops-Rome-Volpetti-1.jpg\")
\r\n4. Albero del Pane\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
5. Innocenti\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
![\"Trays](\"https:\/\/assets.devourtours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/best-food-shops-rome-cookies-1.jpg\")
\r\n6. Pascarella<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
![\"Shelf](\"https:\/\/assets.devourtours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/olive-oil-shelf-1.jpg\")
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