A Taste of Rome: Sensational Pasta alla Carbonara

A taste of Rome: Carbonara on white dish; photo by StudioGi.

. . . Rome is as good as it gets, particularly when you throw in Italian food.~ Roger Federer

The cuisine of Rome is like its people: bold, warm, and full of life.

A number of restaurants near the Rome's Piazza Venezia serve a good Spaghetti Carbonara.

Motor vehicles rule Rome’s crazy-busy Piazza Venezia. At its center is Il Vittoriano, a monument honoring Italy’s first king. Il Vittoriano’s nickname is “The Wedding Cake.” It’s not hard to guess why.

Across the city and the surrounding Lazio region, you’ll find dishes made from modest, high-quality ingredients — but don’t let their simplicity fool you. These flavors speak loud and clear.

Pasta alla Carbonara is one of these dishes. Its silken-textured peppery sauce has earned it a place as Rome’s signature pasta.

And the best part? It’s made with just a handful of ingredients — all easy to find and simple to prepare, even if you’re unfamiliar with a few.

Yes, Carbonara is the most complex of Rome’s three beloved, tomato-free pasta sauces — but “complex” here means it has one or two more ingredients than the others. Nothing too fancy or fussy.

Let’s take a quick peek at the Roman pasta trio:

A Taste of Rome: The Three Classics

Cacio e pepe — cheese and black pepper, that’s it!

Gricia — cheese, black pepper, and salt-cured pork.

Carbonara goes a step further by adding fresh egg yolks.

That extra richness from the eggs earned pasta alla Carbonara its nickname: “Italian-style bacon and eggs.”

Yes, friend — this is homey, rustic, and great Italian cooking. So what exactly goes into a traditional Carbonara?

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A taste of Rome is this "Carbonara on white dish" - photo by StudioGi.

Oh, yes, this is Italian home-style cooking at its finest. So then, what’s in this tantalizing taste of Rome?

Pasta alla Carbonara ~ What’s In There

- EGG YOLKS
  Large, room-temperature yolks make the sauce silky and luscious. (In early post–WWII Italy, cooks used whole eggs, and nothing was wasted.)

- BLACK PEPPER
  Lots of it — freshly ground for maximum aroma and bite. If you’re new to using pepper as more than a seasoning, you’ll be amazed at its starring role here.

- PASTA
  Spaghetti is the classic choice, but any high-quality dry pasta with ridges or texture will do; the sauce clings better.

CHEESE
Traditionally, Pecorino Romano. This is a hard, salty sheep’s milk cheese from the regions of Sardinia and Lazio, where Rome is located. Its bold flavor balances the richness of the egg and pork. (Yes, it tastes stronger than Parmesan and it’s worth trying!)

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Pecorino Romano cheese is a tangy taste of Rome; photo by Deanna from Chicago 'burbs.

SALT-CURED PORK
The ideal choice is guanciale — cured pork jowl, seasoned with salt and black pepper. It’s rustic, rich, and intensely flavorful — a taste of old-world cooking.

Guanciale adds a level of porkiness to foods that other cuts of pork don’t. Many modern-day Romans have gone as far as to say ~

If it doesn’t have guanciale, then it’s not Carbonara!

Now, maybe you’re thinking, Wait — pork jowl? Where am I supposed to find that? Don’t worry. You’re not alone.

Guanciale can be tricky to find unless you live near a specialty butcher or Italian deli. Even many Italians, when they can’t get guanciale, swap it out for pancetta — cured pork belly.

A flavorful taste of Rome: pancetta che soffrigge in padella; photo by Paolo Fornaseri.

And if all you’ve got is American bacon? Go for it! The thicker and fatter, the better.

It may be smokier and less traditional, but who cares? The results taste terrific. The spirit of Roman cooking is about making do with what you have — and making it wonderful.

Still, you might be wondering,

“Can I really recreate a taste of Rome with bacon from my local grocery store?”

White spaghetti glistening with sauce containing small bits of pork is topped with grated cheese and black pepper in the center of a round white ceramic plate.

Yes, absolutely. With the right technique and intention, you can craft a Carbonara that has everyone at the table asking for seconds — and maybe even thirds.

Pasta alla Carbonara isn’t just a Roman recipe — it’s a Roman experience.

If you only learn to make a handful of Italian dishes, let this be one of them because Carbonara is a taste of Rome itself, from your own kitchen.

With nothing more than eggs, cheese, pepper, and pork, you can stir up something that feels timeless, comforting, and unmistakably Italian. Trust me — this is one dish you need to experience.

“Carbonara is a dish of love. If you respect the ingredients, they’ll reward you.”
— Italian chef and restauranteur Antonio Carluccio

WHAT NOW?

Head for the kitchen and start banging some pots together for this easy-to-prepare and easier-to-love Carbonara for Two recipe. (And discover how this iconic dish 🍽️ we call Carbonara came to be and why we call it “Carbonara.”)
You can learn more about the cheese Rome is best known for, Pecorino Romano, and how its roots are no longer uniquely Roman.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs) ABOUT PASTA ALLA CARBONARA

What kinds of pasta can I use to make Carbonara besides spaghetti? You can use rigatoni instead. Or mezze maniche (half-sleeves), a pasta with rigatoni-like ridges but only about half as long. Another good choice is bucatini, a pasta you might mistake for spaghetti until you notice it’s hollow, like a reed. Can you imagine any better place to hold the sauce’s cheesy-porky goodness than inside the pasta?
Can I use another kind of cheese in place of Pecorino Romano? (I don’t like the strong taste of Romano cheese.) You’re not alone. Many Italians prefer the milder taste of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and use it instead of Pecorino Romano. Some chefs use equal parts of freshly grated Pecorino and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese; you might like this combination, too.

PHOTO CREDITS

Featured image, Carbonara on white dish by Studio Gi; Guanciale “72,” by Giorgenko; Pancetta che soffrigge in padella/frying lightly in a pan by Paolo Fornaseri; Pecorino Romano by Deanna from Chicago ‘burbs.