Trattoria Giggetto al Portico D'ottavia

It’s difficult to imagine another place in the world where you can enjoy the delights of the palate underneath a perfectly preserved pre-Christian monument like Portico d'Ottavia. This is where Luigi Ceccarelli, known as Giggetto, and his wife, Ines, founded the tavern in 1923, in the heart of the Jewish ghetto. 

The ghetto was a humble neighborhood at the time, home to many large families, and their patrons were mainly the so-called “fagottari”, people who arrived with their own food wrapped up in bundles, so they could sit at one of Giggetto's tables and enjoy a glass of good Frascati wine. They would meet there, like a large family, to share food and chat. It was, however, also frequented by gourmets, attracted by the aroma of the dishes which Ines cooked on improvised stoves set up in the middle of the street, so as to better advertise the tavern.  Thanks to the delicacies prepared according to the recipes of the legendary hostess, the trattoria – freshly painted, enlarged, and decorated with Pinelli prints – quickly became very popular in the neighborhood.

Their son, Franco, and his wife, Lidia, continued to offer traditional Roman specialties, which contain very few ingredients, but are rich in flavor. Timeless dishes such as stuffed zucchini flowers, salted cod fillets, spaghetti carbonara, tripe, Coda alla Vaccinara (ox-tail), and last, but by no means least, succulent artichoke “alla giudia”, their piece de resistance; all made by faithfully respecting the recipes of the past.

The restaurant is now in the expert hands of the third generation, Claudio and Marco Ceccarelli, who have kept the culinary traditions of their grandparents alive. A tradition that has always looked forward with confidence: in 2023, Trattoria Giggetto will be blowing out its hundredth candle. Paraphrasing an old Capitoline proverb, good home cooking never gets old.