Chestnuts Roasting in an Open Street

It’s winter, which means it’s time for Rome’s chestnut sellers to flourish. Romans love their roasted chestnuts this time of year. My family would treat ourselves when we’d come to the historic center when I was little — a fond childhood memory. Here and there you will find a guy selling hot, roasted chestnuts as a tasty street snack. There’s always one of these guys on our way to Piazza di Spagna, indeed, he seems to be there close to year-round.

One of our local chestnut sellers, on the way to Piazza di Spagna

Chestnuts are castagne, but roasted chestnuts get a new name — caldarroste – which literally means hot (calda) and roasted (roste). They are very tasty, and pretty healthy as well!

So, look for a chestnut seller, sitting behind a roasting pan that keeps the chestnuts warm, often with another pan below where the next batch is roasting.

The batches of chestnuts, the ones on the left are ready to eat, and the shells have cracked open

We went to the guy at Via Frattina, on the way to Piazza di Spagna. For a few euros, you get a bunch of toasty hot chestnuts wrapped in a paper cone, as seen at the top of this post. There is a smaller empty cone clipped to the side, for the shells.

Roasting multiple pans of chestnuts, the little paper cones on one side

Autumn and winter is also time for chestnuts in pasta, with meats (as in our lovely Thanksgiving meal which featured chestnuts several times), in bread, and even in beer.

Chestnuts are also very popular for desserts, including the marron glace’ – candied chestnuts. So, finding ourselves near the Vatican, we trekked out to Rome’s most venerable purveyor of marron glace’, Giuliani Marrons Glacés e Cioccolatini. We bought a few “classic” ones, which we found enjoyable but very sweet — we actually preferred them with a light coating of chocolate.  We also enjoyed some chocolates with gooseberries (which also made an appearance in our Thanksgiving meal).

Regular marron glaceé on the right, chocolate covered to the left, and the chocolate covered gooseberries in the back

One way to enjoy chestnuts in dessert is marron glace’ gelato at the lovely (and nearby) Piazza San Lorenzo in Lucina, at the venerable Ciampini Cafe.  It is truly divine, sweet and wonderfully creamy, packed with chewy little chunks of the candied chestnuts.  

On our last day in Rome, we went to the Cloisters of Bramante for an art exhibit.  We decided to get a quick snack …. which turned out to be a cheesecake with — you guessed it, chestnuts — specifically, a chestnut glaze.

Cheesecake with a chestnut glaze at the little cafe at the Cloisters of Bramante, with a reflection of a Christmas tree on the table top!

A sweet way to end our time in Rome.

Published by spanishstepsapartment

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In the heart of Rome's Historic Center, between the beautiful Spanish Steps and the famous Trevi Fountain, this luxury two bedroom, two bathroom apartment is surrounded by fine dining and fabulous shopping. It is within walking distance of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and many other historic sites and museums, and near the subway, taxi stands, bus stops, and bike rental. Located in a traditional Roman palazzo, the apartment was fully renovated in late 2010 and is now available for vacation and short-term rental.