‘Some of Rome’s best picnic ingredients are at Salumeria Roscioli. Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide writer Eleonora Baldwin took us there.
One of Rome’s most impressive hamper-friendly shops is Salumeria Roscioli. The cheese and marinated vegetable side-dishes (above) are easy to pick up, en route to one of Rome’s famous hills. The shop is also a restaurant, heaving with the thinnest, pinkest prosciutto, and the softest, sexiest cheese around.
The bread has been baked the same way here for generations – and the wine list is vast. It’s a wonderful pit-stop if you’re shopping for a picnic. And in Rome you can find a new place to picnic every day – most of them 2000 years old. If you’re lucky you might even find an old Augustan coin in the grass. Or one of Russell Crowe’s discarded gladiator sandals.
Before you climb a nearby hill for a picnic though, make sure you allow plenty of time to stop at this family-run grocer.
You might just decide to dine at Roscioli, as well as buy your bread, wine and cheese. The smell wafting from the kitchen is highly persuasive. Service is fast, polite and highly knowledgeable, and English is well-spoken. Do ask them for a glass of wine from a locally sourced vineyard as the grape regions around Rome are gaining quite a reputation.
You won’t need to actually read the wine list, though – just turn to your side, and rows of gleaming bottles from all over Europe line the wall next to your table. You will be nose to cork.
Salumeria Roscioli is a firm foodie favourite with bloggers – partly because of the legendary Spaghetti Carbonara.
On a hot day, Salumeria Roscioli is a lovely, dark, cool place to slink into. The raw milk cheese has been aged in caves. The pork haunches on the glass counter are just waiting to be sliced, and sampled.
The staff here will have your choice of picnic ingredients delivered to your hotel if you wish, but it’s more fun to visit, shop and think about staying to dine. Tell the taxi driver Via dei Giubbonari and look for the tempting shop window at number 21.
For an insider’s expert view of foodie haunts in Rome, visit Eleonora Baldwin’s blog.
Want to try some of the famous traditional Roscioli recipes from home? Antico Forno Roscioli/ A Roman Gastronomical Experience by Elisia Menduni, with photographs by by Maurizio Camagna, was published in both Italian and English in 2016, featuring plenty of ideas on creating your own Roscioli dining or picnic experience.
This YouTube video from The Roscioli Food Tour channel gives you a sneak peek at the four Roscioli venues in Rome: Salumeria Roscioli, Antico Forno Roscioli, Roscioli Caffe and Rimessa Roscioli:
