Amatriciana is Rome's tomato-and-guanciale pasta: bucatini tossed in a sauce of guanciale, peeled tomatoes, white wine, pecorino romano and chilli. The dish comes from Amatrice in the Lazio mountains.
The amatriciana originated in Amatrice, the Lazio mountain town in the province of Rieti, as a shepherd's pasta with guanciale, tomato and pecorino. The dish reached Rome with Amatrice migrants in the 19th century and was rapidly adopted as the city's third great pasta after carbonara and cacio e pepe. The 2016 earthquake that devastated Amatrice prompted Roman restaurants to add a €2 supplement to every plate of amatriciana, raising funds for the town's reconstruction. The canonical recipe omits onion and garlic; guanciale (cured pork jowl) is mandatory, not pancetta. Perilli in Testaccio, Matricianella in the Centro Storico and Trattoria Pennestri all serve canonical versions of the dish.
4 editor picks for Bucatini all'amatriciana in Rome, ranked by editorial score. All Rome signature dishes · Bucatini all'amatriciana across every city.
Armando al Pantheon ★ 4.6
centro-storico · Salita dei Crescenzi 31, 00186 Roma
Armando al Pantheon in Rome has cooked the four Roman pastas and the quinto quarto canon since 1961, a few steps from the Pantheon. The Gargioli family still runs the dining room.
Trattoria Pennestri ★ 4.5
ostiense · Via Giovanni da Empoli 5, 00154 Roma
Trattoria Pennestri in Rome's Ostiense, opened 2017 by Tommaso Pennestri, runs the Roman canon with farmer-named meat sourcing. The rigatoni alla gricia is the lead order.
Perilli ★ 4.3
testaccio · Via Marmorata 39, 00153 Roma
Perilli in Rome's Testaccio has cooked the rigatoni con la pajata and the bucatini all'amatriciana since 1911. The pajata is the dish that defines the room and the quarter.
Matricianella ★ 4.3
centro-storico · Via del Leone 4, 00186 Roma
Matricianella in Rome's Centro Storico runs the canonical Roman trattoria carte: amatriciana the dish that named the house, saltimbocca alla romana, and Lazio wines by the carafe.