The Romans have their own distinct approach to pizza.
Their crusts are thin and crisp, quite different from the softer, fuller Neapolitan style.
A well-made Roman pizza will crack at the edges when you bend it, and when cooked properly the rim will show a pleasant charring.
Finding decent pizza in Rome isn’t hard — eating badly in the Eternal City is rare — but the pizza at Il Leoncino, just off Via del Corso in the Centro Storico, stands out. It ranks among the best I’ve ever tasted.
In fact, I’ll go further: it was the best pizza I’ve eaten — the finest.
Context matters with food. Il Leoncino is a small, unpretentious place, more canteen than fine dining. The tables have plastic cloths and the light is fluorescent; the surroundings are a little shabby.
But it’s authentic — a proper Roman pizzeria filled with locals.
The waiter added to the experience: a large, gruff man with a proud moustache and a white apron dusted with flour and soot from the oven. He didn’t speak English, and my Italian is minimal, so we pointed and mispronounced our choices. I tried to order focaccia, but through gestures it became clear there wasn’t room for it on top of two pizzas and a mixed salad — apparently that would have been too much.
What we did receive was sensational.
One was a capricciosa — topped with ham, olives, egg and mushroom — and the other a prosciutto with just a few thin slices of ham. The sparing use of toppings, each set on a lean base of tomato and mozzarella, created a balance missing from many British versions. Too often we overload pizzas and neglect the base.
Extraordinary pizza requires serious heat, and Il Leoncino’s wood-fired oven delivered. The furnace-like hearth heated the room and filled it with the aromas of scorched dough, browning mozzarella and smoke.
It’s difficult to describe something so simple yet so satisfying. Roman pizza celebrates restraint: a thin, crisp base, a modest spread of tomato, a measured amount of cheese and a few straightforward toppings. There’s no space for modern gimmicks or extravagant ingredients here — just traditional Roman pizza, made with traditional ingredients in a traditional way.
Il Leoncino is a perfect example of that tradition.
And that’s precisely what makes it so good.
Il Leoncino
Via del Leoncino 28
No credit cards.