Rome is popular with tourists every year, but a particularly bright spotlight will be shone on the Italian capital throughout 2025 – that’s because from Christmas Eve 2024 until the first week of January 2026, Rome will be hosting the Jubilee Year of Hope.
This only happens every 25 years, and the city is set to welcome a staggering 35 million pilgrims. And you know what they say about pilgrimages? It’s hungry work.
Thankfully, there are few better places to be than Rome if you need to fill your boots, with all that authentically cooked pizza and pasta. However, the city council is a tad concerned – not about the pasta itself, but about the price.
That’s why councillors are considering introducing a suggested price limit for portions of spaghetti alla carbonara – a ‘carbonara pact’.
Luigi Gabriele, the president of Consumerismo (a consumer advice association), came up with the idea, and last week a motion was approved demanding the city hall to draw up a list of voluntary price limits for the dish – as well as for popular plates like amatriciana (tomato and pork cheek pasta).
Restaurants that comply with the limit would be entitled to a specially designed sticker, but the motion also included a call for stricter checks on restaurants advertising their prices generally, even if they don’t comply with the cap.
Why? Well, it’s to protect customers from paying inflated prices when they ask for the bill. Gabriele said: ‘Whoever sells an overpriced carbonara that tastes disgusting is committing a crime against the stomach and against the economy,’ adding that the price should be fixed to €12-14.
And the price of food and drink in Rome has been going up: living costs have increased by €388 on average compared to last year, and we reported recently that the country’s €1 espresso is under threat.
While it’s likely some bougier restaurants won’t be opting into the carbonara pact if it comes together, it seems there’s a lot of support for the idea. Monica Luccarelli, Rome’s economics councillor, said it would ‘protect the economy and the image of the city’, according to The Times.
Hungry for more? Here are our favourite dishes, pastas, pizzerias, restaurants and places for gelato in Rome. Oh, and here’s our roundup of the very best cities in the world for food.
Did you see that this steak has just been crowned the best in the world by Time Out?
Plus: A direct sleeper train between Italy and Sicily is launching this Christmas.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.