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Dining out in Rome: How to Read an Italian Menu?

You’re made it to Rome, and you’re probably counting the seconds before you get to taste some authentic Italian cuisine from the land itself; a bucket list item for millions of people around the world, no doubt.

You sit down as a charming local trattoria, not far from your hotel. You feel very Italian already. That is, until you pick up the menu and begin to read…

What You Need to Know

Being unable to read a menu while in Rome is not something that will happen often, but it will happen.

Most restaurants have adapted to the touristic nature of the city, and incorporated English translations onto their menus, or simply English menus entirely. There are, however, those that wish to keep Rome at its essence and stick with the language of the locals in all aspects.

If you happen to sit down at one of these traditional eateries, don’t panic! Reading an Italian menu is easier than you think, provided you know what signals and keywords to look out for.

by Fraser Cottrell –

I’ll get into these now, but before I do let me state the first rule of reading foreign menus that I’ve had to learn the hard way myself, many times: ask for help! In Rome, it’s likely that if a trattoria has opted for a solely Italian menu, then they will employ solely Italian speaking waiters as well.

That being said, you never know until you ask, and someone on shift might be able to help you select a menu item verbally. This saves you the effort of decoding the menu on your own.

Keywords

Thankfully, Italian food is eaten across the globe and most of us have had regular encounters with words such as lasagne, ravioli and bolognese. We use them like English words, so seeing them on a menu in Rome will be exactly as if you were ordering them in your home country.

by Erik Mclean –

Some menus might be divided into animal classes. If so, you’ll probably find the following subdividers on the menu:

• Meats — Carne
• Fish — Pesce
• Chicken — Pollo
• Lamb — Agnello
• Beef — Manzo
• Pork — Maiale
• Duck — ³¢â€™a²Ô²¹³Ù°ù²¹
• Rabbit — Coniglio
• Veal — Vitello

Some restaurants will divide their menus into soups, pizzas, pastas, salads and so on, instead. Thankfully, these words don’t change and are easy to spot on traditional menus.

If you have any allergies, you’ll need to memorize the following keywords prior to your trip to Rome, just to avoid any risk of accidental contamination.

• Nuts — noccioline, mandorle, anacardi, noci pecan, macadamia, nocciola
• Cheeses — formaggio, cacio, caprino, parmigiano, mozzarella, asiago, fontina, gorgonzola, mascarpone, pecorino, provolone, ricotta
• Milks & cream — latte, panna, crema

by Katarzyna Grabowska –

While ordering off of the drinks menu, the following words might be unfamiliar:

• Juice — il succo
• Champagne — spumante
• Beer — la birra

Others like wine, tea and coffee hardly change and you’ll identify them at first sight. Most foreign travelers to Rome find their greatest difficulty is understanding the many different words used for the varieties of pasta in the country.

• Ravioli — Pasta pillows usually stuffed with cheese and some sort of vegetable
• Agnolotti — Like ravioli, just smaller
• Calciuni — Fried ravioli
• Spaghetti — Long, thin hair-like pasta
• Linguine — Like spaghetti, only flat and wide
• Macaroni — Small pasta tubes usually curved like elbows
• Ziti — Like Macaroni, only bigger
• Penne — Short pasta tubes, usually with grooves
• Orecchiette — Tiny shell shaped pasta
• Gnocchi — Pasta dumplings made with potato
• Cappellini — Sometimes called angel hair, this is very thin, delicate strands of pasta
• Cannelloni — Giant tubes of pasta, usually filled with meat or cheese
• Rigatoni — Large tubes but short in length
• Fusilli — Corkscrew shaped pasta

by Jakub Kapusnak –

It’s helpful to remember that there are very few dishes in Italian cuisine that done make use of some sort of butter, cream, cheese or meat in the cooking process.

If you are a plant-based eater dining in Rome, it’s probably more efficient to supply memorize some of the following phrases rather than attempt to find the one or two vegan-friendly items on an Italian menu. Tell your waiter:

• Sono vegano — I am vegan
• Sono vegetariano — I am vegetarian
• Non mangio carne/formaggio/crema/burro — I don’t eat meat/cheese/cream/butter
• Per favore, mostrami le tue opzioni vegane — Please show me your vegan options
• Vorrei questo senza carne/formaggio/crema/burro — I would like this without meat/cheese/cream/butter

by Steffen Kastner –

When in Doubt, Use an App

If you have access to the internet while eating out in Rome, then there are a few apps that will make your life immensely easier as an English speaker.

For basic translations of certain words that are confusing you on a menu, simply pull up the iTranslate app available for free on the App Store.

You’ll be able to type in the words you are unsure of for instant translations, helping you navigate the menu in real time.

This app also has a camera reader option; a service you will have to pay for, but immensely useful nonetheless.

by Rohit Tandon –

Through your cellphone camera, you’ll point your phone at the Italian menu in question whereby the app will translate each and every visible Italian word directly into English on screen.

In this way, it’s almost like you are reading an actual English menu, despite physically holding an Italian one!

Alternatively, you will also be able to open the webpages of most restaurants and have your smart phone translate the entire page into your spoke language. It doesn’t work for every place in Rome, but a lot of them do put their menus online for potential customers to see.