
Chef in Residence
Jacopo Mercuro
Chef

180 Grammi Pizzeria Romana has helped define a new chapter in Roman pizza-making from its base in Centocelle, where thin, crisply edged rounds draw from an open kitchen alongside well-executed fried starters and ingredient-led toppings. Ranked #36 among Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in Europe in 2024, it holds a Google rating of 4.4 across nearly 1,800 reviews and has since expanded with dedicated take-out locations across the city.
<h2>Centocelle and the New Roman Pizza</h2><p>Roman pizza has always been defined by what it is not. It is not Neapolitan: no high, charred cornicione, no soupy centre, no reverence for the 00-flour orthodoxy of the south. The Roman tradition runs flat and direct, with a crust that snaps rather than folds and a topping-to-base ratio calibrated for crispness above all else. For decades, that tradition was largely the property of old-neighbourhood pizzerie and late-night taglio counters. Then, in the early 2010s, a wave of younger pizzaioli began treating Roman pizza with the same sourcing discipline and creative ambition that the Neapolitan revival had brought to its own style a generation earlier. That movement now has a handful of addresses that have come to define it, and 180 Grammi, operating from Via Genazzano in the Centocelle neighbourhood of eastern Rome, is among the most closely watched.</p><p>Centocelle itself matters to this story. The neighbourhood sits east of the city centre, well outside the tourist circuits that concentrate around the Colosseum or Trastevere, and it has become, over the past decade, one of the more interesting zones for serious eating at accessible prices. The pizzeria's location there was not incidental: it positioned the operation inside a community of regulars and local critics who judge on flavour and consistency, not on setting or proximity to monuments.</p><h2>Where the Ingredients Lead</h2><p>The Roman nouvelle vague is, at its core, an argument about sourcing. The thin-crust format that 180 Grammi works within offers almost no structural cover: a poor-quality flour, an under-fermented dough, or a dull topping has nowhere to hide on a base this spare. What distinguishes the better operations in this tier is precisely that they treat the topping as a composition of sourced ingredients rather than a default combination. The open kitchen at Via Genazzano produces combinations that arrive alongside more traditional seasonings for those who read novelty as a risk rather than a draw.</p><p>That balance between creative combinations and classical references is a deliberate structural choice shared by most of the serious addresses in this category. It allows a single evening's service to move between a customer who wants something technically familiar and one who is there specifically for what is new. The fried starters that open the meal here follow the same logic: they are executed with care rather than treated as a throwaway preamble, which is more than can be said for most of Rome's pizza operations at this price point.</p><h2>Ranking and Peer Context</h2><p>Opinionated About Dining placed 180 Grammi at #36 among Cheap Eats in Europe for 2024. That upward movement in a ranked list that covers the full breadth of European budget-accessible dining is a meaningful signal: the panel assesses consistency above novelty, and a climb of thirteen places across a single year suggests the kitchen has tightened rather than rested. A Google rating of 4.4 across 1,969 reviews adds a volume dimension to that assessment: this is a room that holds its score at scale.</p><p>To place it in Rome's wider dining map: the city's fine-dining tier runs through rooms like <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/la-pergola-rome-restaurant">La Pergola</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/acquolina-rome-restaurant">Acquolina</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/enoteca-la-torre-rome-restaurant">Enoteca La Torre</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/il-pagliaccio-rome-restaurant">Il Pagliaccio</a>, and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/achilli-al-parlamento-rome-restaurant">Achilli al Parlamento</a>. 180 Grammi occupies an entirely different register, one where the craft argument is made through dough work and ingredient selection rather than through formal plating or extended tasting sequences. Both registers are serious; they are simply serious about different things.</p><p>Internationally, the closest analogs in approach, if not in cuisine type, are operations that have taken a regional format and subjected it to sourcing and fermentation discipline without abandoning the format's original character. Places like <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/osteria-francescana">Osteria Francescana in Modena</a> and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/enoteca-pinchiorri">Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence</a> represent the high-formal end of that same Italian instinct to take a regional tradition seriously. <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/atelier-moessmer-norbert-niederkofler-brunico-restaurant">Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/dal-pescatore-runate-restaurant">Dal Pescatore in Runate</a>, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/le-calandre-rubano-restaurant">Le Calandre in Rubano</a>, and <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/enrico-bartolini-milan-restaurant">Enrico Bartolini in Milan</a> round out a wider Italian frame of reference. The transatlantic comparison is less obvious but not irrelevant: the move from novelty-driven formats to sourcing-led ones that reshaped venues like <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/le-bernardin">Le Bernardin in New York City</a> and, more recently, <a href="https://www.enprimeurclub.com/restaurants/atomix">Atomix in New York City</a> reflects the same underlying logic applied to very different cuisines.</p><h2>Planning a Visit</h2><p>The address is Via Genazzano, 32, in Centocelle, which sits in the eastern residential belt of Rome and is most practically reached by metro or bus from the centre. Service is described as fast and cordially polite, which is the operating mode of a room that runs a high number of covers without converting to a slow, formal pace. Desserts are worth staying for rather than skipping in favour of a faster exit. The wine and beer selection is described as discreet, meaning it is functional and considered rather than extensive: you are not here for a deep cellar, but you will not be left with poor options. The business has expanded with take-out locations, making it possible to eat 180 Grammi pizza outside the Via Genazzano dining room, though the full experience including the fried starters and desserts is best on-site.</p>
The Centocelle setting is a neighbourhood pizzeria in the residential eastern belt of Rome, which tends to make for a relaxed, informal atmosphere suitable for families. Service is described as fast and cordially polite, which helps at a venue where waits and pacing can otherwise be a friction point with children. There is no formal kids menu on record, but Roman pizza by the slice or full pie translates well across ages.
A bright dining room on Via Genazzano, 32, with an open kitchen and the kind of purposeful energy that comes from a place ranked #36 among OAD Cheap Eats in Europe in 2024. The crowd skews local and pizza-literate, drawn by Jacopo Mercuro and Mirko Rizzo's position at the front of the Roman nouvelle vague rather than by any design statement. Fast service, a short wine and beer list, and fried starters that open the meal mean the focus stays on what arrives from the kitchen.
180 Grammi Pizzeria Romana has received recognition including: Among the leaders of the Roman nouvelle vague, with its thin crust and crispy edge, Jacopo Mercuro's restaurant, located in the popular neighborhood of Centocelle, is unanimously recognized as a must-stop for any necessary update on the top….
The format centres on thin-crust Roman pizza with a crispy edge, and the kitchen moves between classical toppings and more inventive combinations that have built 180 Grammi's reputation within the nouvelle vague conversation. The fried dishes that open the meal are described as original and well-executed, and the desserts are worth holding space for rather than treating as an afterthought. The wine and beer list is concise but considered.
Via Genazzano, 32, 00177 Roma RM, Italy
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