Finding a good meal in Rome is like shooting fish in a barrel, but I wanted to make sure my first pizza in Italy was a proper wood-fired OMFG loving life moment.
Enter Il Piccolo Buco.
Finding quality spots in world-famous tourist destinations is a curious thing. There’s a desire within all of us to find something small, quality, and off the beaten path… so when a place is closing in on 100K followers on Instagram and has outposts in Tampa, FL and Naperville, IL? I’ll admit. It gave me pause.
But, you don’t get some PI funding to expand on the original if the original thing isn’t doing something right.
Located steps away from the Trevi Fountain, this place has a NO RESERVATIONS OR TAKEOUT policy. So, if you want to enjoy Il Piccolo Buco’s famous pizza, you need to queue up in an alley across the way with everyone else. They don’t even want you to open the door.
The signs in the door read:
NO TAKE AWAY
NO RESERVATION
PLEASE
QUEUE IN THE ALLEY BEHIND YOU
TURN AROUND
PLEASE DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR
WE WILL CALL YOU TO BE SEATED
True story. You’ve gotta want it.
If you’re not into reading signs and following instructions, you won’t make it more than 1.5 steps into the establishment before a server turns you around, motions toward the people patiently waiting in said alley, and instructs you to join them.
I went at off hours on a Thursday in late March, and there were ~10-20 people ahead of me in line. My camera roll said I was snapping alley selfies at 4:51pm, I had a pizza in front of me by 5:20pm.
What I Ate
Kept it simple. Classic Margherita Pizza, washed it down with a Peroni (or two).
OVERALL RATING
10/10. I’d say no notes but this blog post is full of notes from 6 months later. Whenever I get back to Rome, I will be eating at Il Piccolo Buco again.