by Matt Knight
Thursday February 16, 2023 • 3 min read
Eataly is a food-lover's paradise with a huge assortment of fresh produce, cafes, restaurants and local delicacies on offer. A must see in Rome!
For me, one of the greatest appeals of Italian culture is the food - pizza, pasta, cheese, cured meats, wine and so much more.
So while we're here in Rome, we're on a mission to try as many different Italian foods as we can - not just eating at restaurants, but also learning to cook it ourselves.
I love the simplicity of Italian cuisine: use a small number of ingredients and let them shine. That means finding good quality raw ingredients is essential.
Eataly
I'll be honest, I didn't know what to expect.
We had just finished a walking tour in the heart of Rome with the Rick Steves' app, when Diana revealed to me the plan to visit Eataly.
We took Metro A from near the Spanish Steps to the Termini, then took Metro B over to Garbatella, followed by a 10 minute walk to Eataly.
Store layout
Eataly is laid out over several floors, each one circling around the outside of the building so as you walk in you can see all the way up to the top level. It was bustling with people on every floor, and it took us a second to get our bearings.
It was mid-afternoon, and we had nothing planned for the afternoon except to spend several hours exploring the store until the main restaurants opened around 7pm.
We decided on a two-pass approach. First, we'd walk every floor - seeing what they had on offer. Then, afterwards, we'd walk back through to collect anything we wanted to buy.
The selection was incredible.
Food, glorious food
The first floor has an area selling kitchen utensils, a café, ice cream counter, several hot food counters selling pizza, etc and a huge range of groceries, spices, chocolate and more.
Each subsequent floor brought new foods and things to see - a huge cheese counter, an expansive meat selection, a well-stocked fishmonger, a floor dedicated almost entirely to wine and beer, and of course pastas, sauces, etc.
Not to mention more hot food counters, a bar and the restaurants.
We had no problems spending several hours browsing around, trying hard to resist the temptation to buy too much! In the end we bought a cutting board scraper (to help make handmade pasta in our Airbnb) and a couple of different Parmesan cheeses.
With a little time left, we decided to visit the cafe to have a coffee and enjoy some people watching as we waited for the restaurants to open.
Dinner
Soon enough it was dinner time, so we headed upstairs to one of the restaurants. We joined a short line of others waiting for the restaurant to open and were soon seated.
For dinner I chose a pasta dish while Diana opted for pizza - which she described as the best margherita pizza she's ever had!
Wrapping up
We really enjoyed our visit to Eataly.
Comparing some prices for things we had seen in the grocery stores, it did appear to be a little more expensive, but the selection of food was incredible and we were able to pick up a couple of nice aged cheeses we hadn't been able to so far find elsewhere.
If you're visiting Rome and are looking for something a little different to try, I recommend visiting Eataly. With its cafes and restaurants as well as its huge selection of fresh produce, it's a great opportunity to find some local delicacies.
Hey! Did you enjoy this blog post?
I write all the content on this site myself, and then make it available for free, for you. If you found it useful or interesting, would you consider a sending us a little something to say thank you?
Using Buy Me A Coffee, you can send us as little as $5 or as much as you want - either way, it means a lot to us! Click the big button below if you want to help support our work.
