Let me be blunt: if you love pasta and go to Rome without dining at Colline Emiliane, you are losing out. Yes, I know the food here is more northern Italian than Roman. But, year after year, this place has the best pasta in Rome, hands down. Every time I go here, I question why I would ever eat pasta anywhere else.

The restaurant is a short walk from the Spanish Steps Apartment, a stroll up Via del Tritone toward Piazza Barberini and then a slight jog to the right onto a small side street. As you enter, you’ll notice a window to the left of the door — a window looking into the room where ladies make the fresh pasta, every day, on big tables. 

After being kept out of Rome due to COVID for a long time, this was the first place I made reservations for when we knew we were actually heading to Rome. Yes, it’s that good.

When we arrived, our vaccination cards were carefully checked at the door, and then we were let in. All staff were wearing masks (and wearing them properly), and almost all diners wore masks when entering or exiting the restaurant. We instantly relaxed in the restaurant’s serene and calm rooms, complete with white tablecloths and excellent service. We started this meal with an appetizer of delicious ham.

 

Laura said she had been dreaming about their tortellini in brodo (broth), so that was her next course. It’s a very classic dish — warm, delicate, and soothing.

Personally, I went for the pasta pictured at the top of this post — a deceptively simple dish of pasta and ham. There’s no sauce. Instead, the pasta speaks for itself. Well, it does not speak, so much as sing. It’s beautiful. This is exactly what pasta is supposed to taste like, people!

Having already gorged on ham and pasta, we shared a main course, a boiled beef served with a green sauce (primarily parsley), a very enjoyable sweet/spicy sauce, and some fried mushrooms.

 

We also split the dessert, a Zabaione with biscuits also made in-house. This is a comfortable, not too-sweet nor too-rich, ending to a meal — an experience — that you won’t forget for its distraction-free precision and delight.

With a bottle of water and a very nice bottle of red wine, the bill was 125 euros for two people.  Well worth it for a night of pasta heaven.