Ciao, I'm Carlo

"For years, every friend visiting Rome has asked me the same thing: where should we actually eat? Like a Roman is my answer."

For over a decade I've worked inside Rome's restaurant world as a hospitality consultant — helping kitchens and dining rooms run better. It's a job that keeps me in trattorie, markets and bars almost every day, and over the years it taught me exactly which ones are the real thing and which ones are just good at catching tourists.

And for just as long, friends coming to Rome have asked me the same question: "Carlo, where should we eat?" I'd always reply with the same thing — my real addresses. The trattoria that still makes gricia the old way, the bakery for warm pizza bianca, the bar for a proper espresso at the counter. Never the places with photo menus and a waiter waving you in from the square.

At some point I realised that little black book of mine was the most useful thing I could hand a traveller. Like a Roman is simply that book — opened up, and built around your days in the city.

Why this exists

Rome welcomes over 20 million visitors a year, and far too many of them eat badly. Not because Rome lacks great food — it has more of it than almost anywhere — but because the best of it hides one street back from the monuments. The tourist-trap economy is designed to catch people once and never see them again. I wanted to build the opposite: a service that treats you like a friend who happens to know a local.

How I choose

Every place we recommend is chosen by a professional who actually eats there — not by anonymous online reviews, which can be gamed and gamed often. I look at the things that matter: is the pasta made properly, are the opening hours real, will they look after you when you walk in. If a place slips, it comes off the list.

And nothing here is a hidden advertisement. If a venue ever has a partnership with us, it's clearly labelled — and it never changes what I'd genuinely recommend. The whole point of Like a Roman is trust: these are the addresses I'd give a friend.

What I believe

What you get

Tell me your sightseeing plan — your stops and your times — and I'll build a complete food and shopping itinerary around your real day: breakfast, coffee, lunch, aperitivo, dinner, and the markets and bakeries where Romans shop. Every address comes with what to order, what to skip, and the little insider notes you won't find on Google. For the Concierge plan, I'll even handle the reservations.